New estimates double the size of North Sea oil
25 Oct
A recent report from the Norwegian oil firm Statoil suggests that the oil fields of Aldous Major South and Avaldsnes may contain double the amount of oil previously thought. A revised estimate indicates that the Aldous oil field may hold from 900million to 1.5billion barrels of oil. Although the news is predominantly centered around Swedish and Norwegian drilling operations in the North Sea, the announcement also buoyed UK operations by suggesting that the area may yet contain more undiscovered and untapped fields.
According to Statoil’s vice president of Exploration: “Aldous/Avaldsnes is a giant, and one of the largest finds ever on the Norwegian continental shelf.” The value of the find was made that much greater, due to the shallow depth at which the oil was discovered and making it much easier to extract. According to industry sources the discovery has come as a big shock, but analysts predict that there will be further investments made in the North Sea area, which should generate substantial revenues for the surrounding and participating countries.
In recent years the UK production of gas and oil from the North Sea has declined. Statistics from 2010 showed that oil production had dropped by 7.7% and gas production had dropped by 4.3%. Fortunately, for UK gas and electricity suppliers, wholesale drilling and refining companies, including BP, have recently made significant investments within the UK North Sea infrastructure. BP recently announced a £4.5bn investment in the Clair Ridge scheme and will invest an additional £3bn to redevelop the Schielhallion and Loyal fields.
In 2007 oil and gas was responsible for 36% of the UK’s energy supply. To cope with increasing demand and limitations on supply, the UK government recently released a UK energy roadmap which advocated the creation of new green energy technologies, such as solar and wind. The roadmap also detailed the coalition’s plan to redevelop the UK’s out-dated nuclear infrastructure.



