Kjell Aleklett: Energy alarm sounding for the EU

Last Monday (April 13) there were two articles in the Financial Times, either of which would be troubling by itself. However, if one analyses them together there is every reason to sound the alarm. On the first page there was an article on oil,

One cannot expect to find large new gas and oil fields in the North Sea, but the smaller fields that one can still find are decisive for keeping production alive. Production from giant fields in the North Sea is now declining very rapidly. On average, the rate of decline is around 15% per year. To keep the large production platforms profitable they must be connected to new, smaller fields. Of course, these are also emptied very rapidly but together with the declining production from the giant fields they can still keep production profitable.

The fact that we are now not investing to try to find new fields means that an increasing number of platforms will close prematurely and permanently as their production volumes fall to levels where they are unprofitable. The Financial Times estimates that the lifetime for future oil and gas production will be halved. For the United Kingdom this can mean that in 2020 they will only produce 12% of the nation