Coal gas and modern gas-storage resilience

Numerous local companies produced coal gas and maintained above-ground stores, spreading some supply capacity across the country. Modern recoverable gas resources are a different measure from supplies immediately available to consumers. Quoted commercial stocks of roughly 1.7 to 3.2 billion cubic metres amount to about two to seven days of average winter demand in the comparison. Such a short buffer makes frequent liquefied-natural-gas arrivals central to the warning about supply interruptions. Electricity imported through cables from France is another dependency, but the table does not include it. The historical comparison uses 1939 figures where 1937 data proved difficult to obtain.