{"id":561003,"date":"2026-03-26T01:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T01:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/561003\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T01:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T01:41:11","slug":"michael-shanks-denies-uk-is-planning-for-energy-blackouts-or-rationing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/561003\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Shanks denies UK is planning for energy blackouts or rationing"},"content":{"rendered":"

ENERGY minister Michael Shanks has denied that the UK Government<\/a> is planning for energy blackouts or rationing.<\/p>\n

Shanks, Labour MP for Rutherglen<\/a>, told the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee on Wednesday that the UK has a \u201cstrong and diverse range of supplies\u201d that are operating as normal.<\/p>\n

It comes amid Iran\u2019s effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, a vital shipping route for oil and gas.<\/p>\n

Asked if ministers are planning for blackouts or rationing, Shanks said: \u201cWe\u2019re absolutely not.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd look, that\u2019s not from a point of us not taking very seriously the risks that there are at the moment and managing the situation carefully.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we are monitoring it, and all the data that we have is that because we\u2019ve got a strong and diverse range of supplies, we\u2019re not concerned about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t take it very seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The committee was earlier told that Asian markets are seeing a \u201cbig drought\u201d of oil and gas on the horizon because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

Equinor, which is a major energy supplier to Europe, said a number of its vessels were caught up<\/a> in the disruption.<\/p>\n

Alex Grant, Equinor\u2019s UK country manager, told MPs: \u201cWe have a fleet of around 80 vessels at any one point \u2013 we have vessels that are caught up in the Gulf situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no better view on anyone else, which is when will the straits reopen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no shortage even in Asia, yet. Vessels take 25 days or so to sail there so at the moment they\u2019re still just about receiving the same amount of oil that they\u2019ve always received.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they can see on the horizon a big drought. Suddenly nothing coming. And they don\u2019t know when that tunnel ends because they haven\u2019t seen the straits reopen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stress in Asia, a physical shortage problem that they can see coming, is felt much more acutely than it is here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alan Grant, senior vice president of refining, chemicals and oil markets for energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie, told the committee that the war was creating the \u201cworst supply shock there\u2019s ever been\u201d in terms of crude oil.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is a material shock,\u201d he told the MPs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the markets are very much focused on is what is flowing out of the straits \u2013 we\u2019re seeing refiners in Asia scrambling to secure supply and countries in Asia try and manage demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we don\u2019t know is when the straits reopen, how fast the ships that are currently loaded and waiting there can flow out.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the world was \u201cslightly split at the moment\u201d with Asian markets in particular facing higher prices as they look for alternative suppliers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment, refiners in Europe are doing quite well because product prices have really lifted compared to crude,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRefiners in Asia, not at all \u2013 they\u2019re competing so hard for the crude that\u2019s available, they\u2019re kind of destroying their earnings.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ENERGY minister Michael Shanks has denied that the UK Government is planning for energy blackouts or rationing. Shanks,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46,30558,172000,31639],"class_list":{"0":"post-561003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-michael-shanks","13":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","14":"tag-uk-government"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}