U.K. INDUSTRY CHALKS UP 1992 AS BIG, BUSY YEAR

The U.K. petroleum industry logged a banner year in 1992. Figures compiled by the British Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) show the number of producing fields climbed to another record, oil flow is approaching 700 million bbl/year, reserves replacement tops production, and upstream spending is climbing. DTI's annual "Brown Book," an annual report to Parliament on British oil and gas resources, lists 113 fields on production at the end of February 1993. That broke the previous

May 10, 1993

3 min read

The U.K. petroleum industry logged a banner year in 1992.

Figures compiled by the British Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) show the number of producing fields climbed to another record, oil flow is approaching 700 million bbl/year, reserves replacement tops production, and upstream spending is climbing.

DTI's annual "Brown Book," an annual report to Parliament on British oil and gas resources, lists 113 fields on production at the end of February 1993. That broke the previous year's record of 100 on stream.

In addition, 27 fields were under development.

The latest figures for 1993, however, show a slide in production. The flow for March fell almost 234,000 b/d from the February volume to 1.76 million b/d, Royal Bank of Scotland plc reported.

PRODUCTION, RESERVES

U.K. North Sea oil production in 1992 climbed to 690 million bbl from 669 million bbl in 1991, DTI reported.

"Forecasts suggest production will continue to rise and reach record levels over the next 3 to 4 years," said Energy Minister Tim Eggar.

"Once more, increases in estimated reserves over the year have been greater than the amount of oil and gas produced. Levels of capital investment have also risen to their highest level since the late 1970s. The success rate of exploration and appraisal wells now stands at 25%, the highest level yet."

Oil production is predicted to rise in 1994 and remain at 700-920 million bbl/year for 3 years. Gas production in 1992 was 1.94 tcf, about the same as in 1991.

Remaining recoverable oil reserves in U.K. fields lie in the range of 4.515.2 billion bbl in the 1993 report, an increase from the previous year's estimate of 4.1-14.4 billion bbl. Cumulative U.K. production to the end of 1992 was 11.4 billion bbl.

Remaining gas reserves are estimated at 21.6-65.9 tcf, up from the previous 19.1-63.8 tcf. Cumulative U.K. gas production was 30.2 tcf to the end of 1992.

Undiscovered resources are pegged at 3.9-24.7 billion bbl of oil and 9.545.1 tcf of gas.

A total 131 offshore exploration and appraisal wells were drilled last year. Twenty significant offshore discoveries were made and one onshore.

Capital spending for exploration and production was 5.4 billion ($8.1 billion) in 1992, compared with 5.1 billion ($7.65 billion) in 1991.

PRODUCTION SLIDE

The production slip this year stemmed largely from a scheduled shutdown of BP Exploration Operating Co. Ltd.'s Forties pipeline during Mar. 13-Apr. 4 to allow tie-in of the Unity field riser platform. It was part of a 600 million ($900 million) program to boost pipeline throughput to more than 1 million b/d.

Forties field's average flow was cut by 98,000 b/d, or 63%, while BP lost 84,000 b/d on average, or 68%, from Miller field. Marathon Oil U.K. Ltd.'s production from its Brae field complex fell to a total 46,500 b/d from 68,000 b/d in February.

Other temporary falls caused by Forties closure were Amoco (U.K.) Ltd., down 22,800 b/d (62%) in Arbroath field Sun Oil Britain Ltd., down 16,306 b/d (61%) in Balmoral field, and BP, down 10,000 b/d (67%) in Buchan field.