North Sea production wilts

North Sea oil production has sunk more than 260,000 barrels per day from last year, aggravating a shortage of high-quality crude that has stoked record prices. The decline is concentrated in the British sector of the North Sea, where industry analysts Wood Mackenzie said average production for the first half of 2004 was 1.9 million barrels per day, down around 12 percent from the level of 2.166 million a year ago.

Chron