UK oil production continues decline

The year-on-year decline in oil and gas production in the UK sector of the North Sea is continuing its decline, dropping by a further combined 10 per cent in March, according to the latest monthly report by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Oil production was down 5 per cent on the month at 1,403,005 barrels per day (bpd) and down 14 per cent on the year, while natural gas output production decreased 3 per cent and 6 per cent respectively to 8,581 million standard cubic feet per day (mmcfd).
The bank said that decline, which started in 2000, was continuing despite near-record investment in 2006. It suggested that increased drilling activity, the underlying long-term fall in production was “unlikely to be reversed.”
Despite the fall-back, the provisional average value of combined production in March reached Pnds 81.29 million (Dlrs 160 m), the highest in more than a year due to a resurgence in prices.

IRNA