UK gas reserves down to six hours as imports fail to arrive.

(From Guardian Unlimited)

Britain's reserves of stored gas stood at just six hours at lunchtime today as imports from Norway failed to arrive.

National Grid issued an appeal for more gas to be pumped to the UK after unusually cold weather led to a shutdown of the Ormen Lange processing centre in the Norwegian Sea, interrupting gas flows to the UK at a time of peak demand.

It is the fourth time this month that the company has issued the notice to the market. The so-called gas balancing alert has been issued only five times in total since the system was introduced three years ago.

Most of the UK's gas arrives by pipeline from the North Sea or …