North Sea Oil: Resource Requirements for Development of the U.K. Sector

From the first exploration wells in 1964 to virtual self-sufficiency by 1980, the development of the U.K. North Sea oil fields has been rapid and productive. However, the hostile environment and the sheer scale of the operation have made heavy demands on both natural and human resources. Just how large has this investment of resources been? Has it been justified by the amount of energy recovered? What lessons does the development of the North Sea hold for operators of other offshore fields? Using an approach developed at IIASA, the author attempts to answer these questions. He presents a wealth of detailed information obtained from exhaustive literature searches and close cooperation with the North Sea oil companies themselves, and uses it to investigate the resources needed to construct and operate the various field installations and facilities. From this starting point he then derives the total amounts of resources required to develop each field and then the entire U.K. sector. To put this resource expenditure in perspective, the author describes the way in which estimates of North Sea oil reserves have evolved and examines the additional yields that may be obtained by using technologically advanced oil-recovery methods; also included is an interesting comparison of the "energy economics" of producing either gas or oil from the North Sea. Finally, there are extensive descriptions of the U.K. oil fields currently in production or at advanced stages of development, giving details of reserves, production rates, and ownership, together with full information on the production platforms, storage facilities, and pipelines employed in each field