On the other side of the mountain

Is the British government doing enough to prepare for a future of diminishing oil production both internationally and in the North Sea? It seems a timely question as oil reached another record price of $92 yesterday, creeping closer to $100 a barrel.

This week, German-based researchers claimed that global oil production peaked last year and that it could fall by half as soon as 2030.


The British government says there is no reason to panic and that global oil supply is sufficient for the foreseeable future. But critics point to the fact that renewables in the UK generate only about 4% of the country’s electricity and 2% of its overall energy needs.

The Guardian’s Andy Beckett recently travelled to an oil rig in the North Sea and in a big piece today writes that “Britain is in the autumn of its North Sea era”.

Last year British oil output, which peaked in 1985, was at its lowest since 1979. The oil is harder and harder to get out, though one positive note is struck in Beckett’s piece by the growth of smaller British firms with specialist, transferable skills at getting oil from challenging places.

Then there are the possibilities of the UK’s controversial claims to the Antarctic and its possible oil reserves.

Guardian