Environment Report 2017

ENVIRONMENT REPORT 2017

3.1 UK Continental Shelf Activity Against the backdrop of a 60 per cent fall in oil price and a 45 per cent drop in capital investment from 2014-16, the UKCS saw a production increase over the same period due to improved production efficiency from existing assets and new field start-ups. Facing a difficult economic climate, companies have driven improvements in production and operational efficiency across UK offshore installations to ensure the long-term sustainability and competitiveness of the industry 3 .

Efficiency gains, combined with new business processes and deployment of technologies, have all contributed to continued improving environmental performance on the UKCS over 2016 as outlined in the sections that follow.

Figure 1: Historic and Forecast Production

2,000

Oil

Gas

1,800

1,600

1,400

1,200

1,000

800

600 Production (Million boe)

400

200

0

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

Source: Oil and Gas Authority, Oil & Gas UK

3 See Oil & Gas UK’s Business Outlook report at www.oilandgasuk.co.uk/businessoutlook

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