North Sea rocked by price fall as production costs double
Lower oil prices are re-shaping oil and gas operations in the North Sea — with UK waters seeing the most drastic changes
It was only six years ago that the UK’s Brent Blend crude, the North Sea’s main price-setting grade, was last selling at today’s figure of about $60 a barrel. But much has changed in that time: oil and gas production have declined sharply, maintenance requirements have increased, and the industry’s contractors have been bumping-up their charges. It now costs more than twice as much to produce a barrel of oil from UK waters than it did six years ago, and nearly twice as much per-barrel to bring a new field into production. After starting out as the world’s highest-cost oil province, and then maturing into a lower-cost area, the UK North Sea has once again become a costly place to produce oil.
Also in this section
18 February 2026
With Texas LNG approaching financial close, Alaska LNG advancing towards a phased buildout and Magnolia LNG positioned for future optionality, Glenfarne CEO Brendan Duval says the coming year will demonstrate how the company’s more focused, owner-operator approach is reshaping LNG infrastructure development in the North America
18 February 2026
The global gas industry is no longer on the backfoot, hesitantly justifying the value of its product, but has greater confidence in gas remaining a core part of the global energy mix for decades
18 February 2026
With marketable supply unlikely to grow significantly and limited scope for pipeline imports, Brazil is expected to continue relying on LNG to cover supply shortfalls, Ieda Gomes, senior adviser of Brazilian thinktank FGV Energia,
tells Petroleum Economist
17 February 2026
The 25th WPC Energy Congress, taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 26–30 April 2026, will bring together leaders from the political, industrial, financial and technology sectors under the unifying theme “Pathways to an Energy Future for All”
