North Sea ‘Has Three Times More Oil and Gas’ Than Government Claims
Britain’s North Sea could hold up to three times more oil and gas than the Government suggests, with leading analysts Wood Mackenzie estimating 14 billion barrels in existing fields. The Telegraphhas the story.
That is more than three times larger than the four billion barrels estimated to remain in place by Ed Miliband’s offshore regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA). …
The actual amounts could be even larger. The NSTA itself estimates that there could be an additional 15 billion barrels in unexplored areas outside of existing fields.
The UK’s offshore operators have extracted 47 billion barrels of oil from the North Sea, Irish Sea and Atlantic waters over the last five decades. Annual output peaked at about 243 million tonnes in 1999 but since then it has steadily declined, reaching 60 million tonnes last year.
Government data suggests this will plummet to just 21 million tonnes a year by 2035. A slow, natural decline has been massively accelerated by the Government’s drilling restrictions and 78% tax rate on offshore profits.
Greg Newman, chief executive of leading global oil traders Onyx Capital, said the North Sea had huge remaining potential – if politicians allowed.
He said: “The problem is not one of lacking oil reserves – rather, it is the politicisation of the extraction process.
“With the correct approach to tax policy, North Sea oil and gas could remain a key employer and source of tax revenue, but punitive taxation makes development of new projects unattractive.” …
A Government spokesman said: “While oil and gas will continue to play an important role for decades to come, independent data from the NSTA shows that production has steadily declined for the past 20 years, with UK becoming a net importer since 2003.
“We are delivering a fair and orderly transition in the North Sea to drive growth and secure tens of thousands of skilled jobs, with the biggest ever investment in offshore wind and three first of a kind carbon capture and storage clusters.”
Stop Press: Looks like Ed Miliband is ready to lift Labour’s ban on new oil and gas drilling, bowing to union pressure and worries it’s hitting the economy, according to the Times.
Yes, it reminds me of the Coal Miners’ Strikes led by Communists, which resulted in the nation being told that our coal mines were spent and depleted so much that it wasn’t worth extracting, etc., etc. Having destroyed the Coal Mining industry in Britain, the Communists used the Poles as strike-breakers, and then suppliers of coal to Britain, generously subsidised by Britain’s own EU contributions. Somehow the coal industry is still thriving on the continent, and we were even importing coal from Russia up until 2022, when the government banned imports because of the Ukraine Meatgrinder War.
Now we import coal from Colombia in South America (!!??), Poland, Germany & Romania in the EU, as well as South Africa, Australia & the US.
The Coal Miners’ Strike was part of the Globalist Project of Asset-Stripping the British Isles.
It would obviously be advantageous to extract this wealth and we need the money.
I have never understood why such high tax rates have been applied. If the government wants to charge an access fee then do it and charge Corporation Tax at normal levels.
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Norway doesn’t seem to have a problem going and fetching it even if it is ‘running out’ more fool Britain!
Yes, it reminds me of the Coal Miners’ Strikes led by Communists, which resulted in the nation being told that our coal mines were spent and depleted so much that it wasn’t worth extracting, etc., etc. Having destroyed the Coal Mining industry in Britain, the Communists used the Poles as strike-breakers, and then suppliers of coal to Britain, generously subsidised by Britain’s own EU contributions. Somehow the coal industry is still thriving on the continent, and we were even importing coal from Russia up until 2022, when the government banned imports because of the Ukraine Meatgrinder War.
Now we import coal from Colombia in South America (!!??), Poland, Germany & Romania in the EU, as well as South Africa, Australia & the US.
The Coal Miners’ Strike was part of the Globalist Project of Asset-Stripping the British Isles.
It would obviously be advantageous to extract this wealth and we need the money.
I have never understood why such high tax rates have been applied. If the government wants to charge an access fee then do it and charge Corporation Tax at normal levels.