Activity Survey 2015

Development Drilling In 2014, a total of 126 development wells were drilled on the UKCS. Whilst this shows a slight increase of six wells on the total for 2013 (120 wells), development drilling has been on a long-term downward trend over the last decade and is now less than half of what it was at its peak of 298 wells in 1998. This trend mirrors the decline in production over recent years. As the oil price has fallen over the last six months and the pace of investment falters, the concern is that development drilling may decline further and continue to drive down production on the UKCS. Looking at the total number of wells (exploration, appraisal and development) drilled over the last four years, there appears to have been a ceiling on activity of around 175 wells per annum. It is apparent that rig capacity now exceeds the demand for drilling on the UKCS in the current business environment, and whilst rig rates are adjusting to the fall in demand, there is a concern that drilling rigs will either be stacked or leave the UKCS, permanently destroying domestic drilling capability.

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Figure 20: Drilling Activity by Well Type

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100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325

Exploration Wells Appraisal Wells Development Wells

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0 25 50 75

Number of Wells Drilled including Sidetracks

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Source: DECC

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