The planned closure of a large gas network owned by oil giant BP PLC (BP) cannot be postponed, a person familiar with the matter said Sunday, despite the country's gas supplies coming under increasing pressure amid the continued cold weather.

The Southern North Sea gas pipeline, which brings ashore around 1% of U.K. domestic gas supplies, will be shut down for maintenance next week in order to bring new fields onto the pipeline, and the work is essential, this person said.

The U.K. is currently in the grip of the coldest winter in 30 years and sub-zero temperatures triggered a surge in U.K. demand for natural gas for heating and power generation Monday, forcing the operator of the U.K.'s natural gas grid to issue an alert that demand was about to outstrip supply in the system.

The U.K. government said at the time there was no risk of consumers being cut off.

The U.K. has just under four billion cubic meters of storage capacity, just one fifth of Germany's, at 19 billion cubic meters, and less than a third of Italy's 14 billion cubic meters.

The lack of stored reserves leaves Britain exposed to competing with other countries for gas imports during periods of strong demand across Europe, and having to pay higher prices to lure it there.

-By Kathy Gordon, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-207-842-9293; kathy.gordon@dowjones.com 
Angela Henshall contributed to this article
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