Peak Oil Passnotes: To Sir With love

The U.K. has a problem: Its local oil and gas have peaked. There is no argument, it is not heresy in the local industry and you can say it without being dragged out of your office and exposed as a communist. U.K. North Sea production peaked some years back at about 3 million barrels per day and continues to decline at around 1.8 million barrels per day at the moment. The decline rate is around 7% a year.

The same thing has happened in the United States. Oil production peaked at the start of the 1970s and, despite the huge concentration of capital and wells, continues to decline. These are both basic facts.


The arguments arrive when the world is considered as a whole. Sir David King exposed his thinking in the past fortnight when setting out his ideas on the energy future for the U.K. They are not remarkable – for a politician.

He says: