Centrica, Cheniere Export Deal to Heat Thousands of UK Homes with Shale Gas

Up to two million UK homes will be heated by shale gas from the US within three years, under a deal agreed with UK gas provider Centrica.

British newspaper The Guardian reports that this marks the first time major exports of the controversial energy source are used in the UK.

Details of the deal with Cheniere Energy Partners were posted on Centrica's website. The gas, shipped as liquefied natural gas (LNG), is to originate from shale fields in Louisiana, USA.

The contract is for an initial 20-year period, with first deliveries due in 2018. Gas supplied will be enough for 1.8 million homes' domestic needs.

In recent days media and officials have voiced concern at the low level of gas reserves in Britain as severe winter weather continues for an unusually long time. By some projections, the UK had only a few days gas supply left at the end of last week.

British government minister with responsibility for energy markets, Ed Davey, welcomed the contract. "The UK already receives gas from a range of countries and we can now add the US to Norway, the Netherlands and Qatar as sources of supply,” he said.