LONDON, April 1. /TASS/. The United Kingdom will become dependent on liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies from the United States over the next decade due to declining hydrocarbon production in the North Sea, which has fallen to its lowest level since 1973, The Times reported citing consulting firm Wood Mackenzie.

According to analysts’ estimates, imports of US LNG will meet 60% of the United Kingdom’s gas demand by 2035, compared with about 10% in 2024. As Wood Mackenzie research director Gail Anderson said, increasing the use of renewable energy sources is certainly necessary, but in conditions of market volatility, hydrocarbon production and use should also be encouraged. Improving the United Kingdom’s energy security in the current situation is linked, she said, to reducing dependence on LNG imports.

An increasing number of stakeholders, including even the wind energy industry organization RenewableUK, are calling on the British government to maximize oil and gas production in the region in the interests of energy security, the newspaper reported.

Energy production in the North Sea has declined, according to official data, from a peak in 2000 to its lowest level in nearly half a century. As of 2024, the United Kingdom produced about 43% of the gas it consumed from its own fields in the region and received almost the same amount via pipeline from the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. The remaining 14% was covered by LNG imports, more than two thirds of which were supplied by the United States.

Increasing domestic production will reduce the country’s dependence on imports and strengthen its energy security. At the same time, the cost of gas supplies from the UK continental shelf is almost twice as low in the short term compared with transporting US LNG, Wood Mackenzie emphasized.

Europe’s growing dependence on LNG

According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, the United States is the world’s largest LNG exporter. Since the EU began cutting off supplies of Russian pipeline gas, the bloc’s imports from the United States have increased fourfold.

According to a monthly report by the US Department of Energy, the United States exported a record 525.1 bln cubic feet (14.9 bln cubic meters) of LNG in November 2025. Europe again became the main destination, accounting for about 68% of total exports. Of total US supplies, 52% went to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Turkey and Egypt. In total, in January-November 2025, the United States exported about 4.937 trillion cubic feet of LNG (139.7 bln cubic meters), which is 25% higher than in the same period of the previous year.

According to forecasts by the International Energy Agency, Europe will set a new LNG import record in 2026, exceeding 185 bln cubic meters. These figures will be driven by higher storage filling requirements and increased gas exports from Europe to Ukraine.