Ineos Chlor, a chlorine manufacturer in Runcorn, Cheshire, said that it had cut its output over the weekend and would make further cuts this week. Ineos said that it was shutting the taps as the spot price of gas rose to above £1 per therm yesterday. On Friday Terra Nitrogen said it was turning down production after a doubling of the spot price from 36p to 82p in the space of ten days.

At a meeting in Downing Street yesterday, chemical and manufacturing employers called on the Government to take action to remove bottlenecks in the supply of gas.

Industrial gas consumers are furious at the widening gap between gas prices on the Continent and the price charged in the UK. The cost of day-ahead gas on the Dutch TTF market was 50p per therm yesterday, compared with a UK price of 105p at Britain’s National Balancing Point, according to Argus Media.

Companies say that the market is failing to bring extra supplies into Britain, pointing to new infrastructure launched this year that is not being fully used.

Statistics from Interconnector UK, owner of the pipeline that links the UK’s gas grid to the Continent, indicate that only half of the available import capacity is being used by gas importers.

Similar inefficiency is reflected at National Grid Transco’s liquefied natural gas terminal at the Isle of Grain in Kent. Since the first cargo of frozen gas was delivered in July only two further ships have berthed at the facility, whose entire capacity is controlled by BP and Sonatrach, the Algerian state gas company.

Gas prices on the Continent are less volatile, linked to oil prices under long-term agreements with suppliers in Norway and Russia. According to Argus, most Northern European markets are paying 38p to 40p per therm for gas from Norway’s Troll field, the largest North Sea gas reserve.

Industrial gas consumers complain that monopolistic utilities in mainland Europe deprive the UK of cheaper gas by preventing access to their pipeline networks. Without access to continental pipelines, extra gas cannot be brought into the UK.

Centrica, owner of the British Gas retail brand, is keen to bring Russian gas into Britain but is unable to secure access to the German pipeline network. Centrica said: “The price difference between the Netherlands and the UK demonstrates the need for separating long distance pipelines from big monopoly suppliers.”

Malcolm Wicks, the Energy Minister, will today blame lack of reform in continental energy markets for high energy prices. Speaking at a gas industry conference in London, he will say that the UK has the most competitive gas and power market in Europe and will promise to press for further reform at the EU’s Energy Council meeting in December.

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