Industry Analysis & Industry Trends
The United Kingdom is the largest oil producer in the European Union, but production has declined since peaking in 1999. The Crude Petroleum Extraction industry is expected to generate revenue of about £29.7 billion in 2011-12 (up 11.8% on 2010-11) compared with £21.5 billion five years earlier (yielding average annual revenue growth of 6.7%). The gains were greatest in 2008-09 and 2010-11, either side of an estimated 24.9% plunge in 2009-10, when crude oil prices slumped. Crude petroleum extraction is expected to contribute about 1.0% of UK GDP.
The industry is expected to produce about 60.5 million tonnes of crude oil (equivalent to 478 million barrels) in 2011-12. Substantial volumes of oil are traded... purchase to read moree
Industry Report - Industry Locations Chapter
The UK Continental Shelf, located in the North Sea off the eastern coast of the United Kingdom, contains the bulk of the country's oil reserves. There are also sizeable reserves in the North Sea and smaller amounts in the North Atlantic. In addition to these offshore reserves, the United Kingdom also has the Wytch Farm field, Dorset. Wytch Farm is the largest onshore oil field in Europe.
The UK Continental Shelf Act, which came into effect in May 1964, set the scene for the industry's development in the North Sea by providing jurisdictional certainty for oil companies. Seismic exploration of the area soon followed and by the late 1960s and early 1970s, large oil fields had been found... purchase to read more