U.K. updates reserves and production tally

This year's report on U.K. oil and gas resources, published by the U.K. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), portrays a mature but active sector. Known as the Brown Book, the 1998 report shows that 22 new offshore fields were brought into production in 1997, bringing the total number of fields producing off the U.K. at the end of 1997 to a record 186. DTI said U.K. operators produced a combined 940 million bbl of oil in 1997, a slight fall from 955 million bbl in 1996. The department

June 8, 1998

2 min read

This year's report on U.K. oil and gas resources, published by the U.K. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), portrays a mature but active sector.

Known as the Brown Book, the 1998 report shows that 22 new offshore fields were brought into production in 1997, bringing the total number of fields producing off the U.K. at the end of 1997 to a record 186.

DTI said U.K. operators produced a combined 940 million bbl of oil in 1997, a slight fall from 955 million bbl in 1996. The department expects U.K. oil production to peak around 2000 (see Table 1 [30,309 bytes]).

Last year, U.K. gas output rose slightly to a new annual record of 3.24 tcf compared with 3.18 tcf in 1996. U.K. gas production is expected to continue growing during the 5-year forecast period (see Table 1). DTI said operators spent a combined £1.2 billion ($1.92 billion) on exploration and appraisal drilling in 1997, up 9% from 1996 outlays. Reserves estimates for many producing fields and discoveries under development were increased in 1997 through infill drilling and the establishment of additional producing reservoirs. Estimates for possible reserves declined due to limited replacement of reserves from exploration successes in 1997, and from conversion of possible reserves into probable or proven through appraisal (see Table 2 [75,613 bytes]).