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UNITED KINGDOM

North West Europe

  

The UK had an oil industry well before offshore production began because of the prominence of its oil companies in the Middle East, Mexico and Venezuela. In addition oil shales were mined in Scotland in the 19th century and minor oilfields were found onshore in Lincolnshire before WW2.

 

However, it was in 1964, after the First Offshore Licensing Round, when the UK began to become an important area for hydrocarbons and a major exporter. Declining discovery rates and production have now led many of the major companies to reduce their investments in oil and gas. Small companies drilling for satellites and step-outs and scavenging for tail-end production are in part replacing them. 

 

The Southern Gas Basin: Offshore drilling began in the Southern Gas Basin of the Southern North Sea, targeted at the offshore extension of a belt of gas fields, sourced from Carboniferous Coal Measures, discovered in the Netherlands in 1957.

 

The West Sole field in the UK was the first gas discovery in the North Sea in 1965 and gas production began from here in 1967. In the UK around 95 fields have produced gas from this region with production dominated by the Hewett, Indefatigable and Leman fields.

 

The Central and Northern North Sea: Drilling moved northwards aimed at several Jurassic rifts (grabens) identified as containing rich source rocks of the Kimmeridge Clay. Wells drilled yielded one giant field after another, and first production began from the Forties and Argyll fields in 1975.

 

Key fields found in the early 1970s were Forties (1970) and Piper (1973) in the Central Graben of the central North Sea and Brent (1971), Ninian (1974) and Beryl (1972) in the Viking Graben of the northern North Sea. Many more fields have been discovered over the years in both regions and are still being discovered and developed, although in general field discoveries have progressively declined in size.

 

Over 110 separate fields and satellites have produced oil from the central North Sea including the Central Graben and Moray Firth, (of which over 20 have been abandoned) and around 70 have produced oil from the Northern North Sea (over 10 abandoned).

 

Substantial associated gas reserves were also identified early on. The Piper/Tartan complex of fields began producing gas in 1976 but significant production was delayed until pipeline systems had been built. The FLAGS and SAGE systems from the northern North Sea to St. Fergus, and the CATS and SEAL systems in the central North Sea to Teesside and Bacton respectively, are responsible for nearly half UK gas production.

 

Improvements in seismic data have ensured that new fields are discovered each year. Indeed the Buzzard field, drilled in May 2001, was the largest field discovered in the UK for a decade. In addition around 200 undeveloped discoveries are known to exist.

 

West of Britain: Although the North Sea dominates, some other lesser finds have been made to the West of Britain. A number of Carboniferous gas accumulations (and minor oil accumulations) were found in the Irish Sea but few prospects remain in this region.

 

BP also discovered the Clair field in the West of Shetlands in 1977 but due to its location, its oil quality and the large discoveries that were being made in the North Sea at the time, first oil was not until early 2005.

 

The BP-operated Foinaven field was discovered in the same area to the south in 1992 and began production in 1997. The nearby BP-operated Schiehallion field was discovered in 1993 with production beginning in 1998.

 

Other undeveloped discoveries are also present but the West of Shetlands area does not have the prolific reservoirs characteristic of the North Sea. There is a small, relatively unexplored deepwater area in the north west of the region potentially prospective for gas.

                                                                                          

 

CAPITAL

 London

 

Population

 60.6 million

 

Onshore area

(000's sq kms)

244.8

 

Offshore area

(000's sq kms)

NEW

 

OIL PEAK YEAR

1999

A low-priced and up-to-date oil and gas production and consumption forecast report on this country can be commissioned, including all relevant charts. Contact us for price and contents list.

 

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(All photographs in this website are © 2008 Dr Michael R. Smith).