BP's Deepsea Aberdeen semi-submersible rig
Challenges aplenty but opportunity remains for UKCS
There is life in the old North Sea dog yet
The UK continental shelf (UKCS) will, despite its maturity, remain an important region in the global oil and gas sector. It is a key provider of benchmark crude in Europe and has both a relatively stable fiscal regime and a diverse and dynamic corporate landscape—supporting high levels of M&A activity, with recent growth from independents facilitating portfolio rationalisation by large IOCs. Production from the UKCS peaked at the turn of the millennium at 5.4mn bl/d oe, before falling by 65pc, to 1.9mn bl/d oe, in just 12 years. A raft of field allowances introduced by the UK government in 2012 contributed to several >100mn bl oe projects being sanctioned, including TotalEnergies’ Lag
Also in this section
10 March 2026
Eni’s director for global gas and LNG portfolio, Cristian Signoretto, discusses how demand will respond to rising LNG supply, and how the company is expanding its own gas and LNG operations through disciplined, capital-efficient investments
9 March 2026
Petroleum Economist analysis sees increases in output from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Kazakhstan among others before region’s murky descent
9 March 2026
Energy sanctions are becoming an increasingly prominent tool of US foreign policy, with the country’s growth in oil and gas production allowing it to impose pressure on rivals without jeopardising its own energy security or that of its allies, argues Matthew McManus, a visiting fellow at the National Center for Energy Analytics
6 March 2026
The March 2026 issue of Petroleum Economist is out now!
