a pipe from usa

northernstar007

can we not lay a pipe direct to america another supply to us

bagand96

You can lay a pipe to the USA or wherever else you like.... But do you expect them to sell us gas cheaper than they can sell it to the rest of the world? 

Aylesbury_Duck

It's possible, but 1. Who's going to pay for it? and 2. Supply and demand means the US would probably only sell at a price similar to that we're already paying anyway.  Would you sell something at a much lower price to a customer knowing what they are already prepared to pay to their current supplier?

northernstar007

bagand96 said:

You can lay a pipe to the USA or wherever else you like.... But do you expect them to sell us gas cheaper than they can sell it to the rest of the world? 

and why not, russia selling it on the cheap to india and china, time to see how our friendship stands with the americans and feeding it on to europe to pee putin off

bagand96

northernstar007 said:

bagand96 said:

You can lay a pipe to the USA or wherever else you like.... But do you expect them to sell us gas cheaper than they can sell it to the rest of the world? 

and why not, russia selling it on the cheap to india and china, time to see how our friendship stands with the americans and feeding it on to europe to pee putin off

Russia is selling theirs on the cheap to India, China and elsewhere because nobody else will buy it. It's just the other side of the supply/demand curve. If Putin could get more rubels for his gas selling it to others then rest assured he would.

None of this means the USA would want to sell the UK gas at bargain rates. And as pointed out above who would pay for this pipe? 

QrizB

northernstar007 said:

can we not lay a pipe direct to america another supply to us

No need for a pipe, LNG travels in ships.

MattMattMattUK

northernstar007 said:

can we not lay a pipe direct to america another supply to us

I am not sure it would be technically possible, even if it is it would take decades and cost billions.

Most gas and oil pipelines cross relatively shallow seas. To cross the Atlantic it would need to cross a very deep ocean, likely with pressures far higher than a pipeline could be reliably constructed to. Pipeline pressure boosting pumps would be an issue at those depths as well. An alternative would be to try and route via the Arctic with all the issues that would cause with construction and metallurgically, it would likely need to route via Canada, Greenland, Iceland and then down to Scotland.

Alternatively for a fraction of the price and considerably more reliability, a faster operational time and likely no issues building them we could build LNG tankers, or at least order them from Germany and South Korea.

xeny

There’s presumably the small matter of needing an expansion joint in the middle to allow for plate tectonics.