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2
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Production increased by 10.4 per cent in 2015, with liquids (58 per cent of the total) up 12.8 per cent and net gas
25
(42 per cent of the total) up by 7.2 per cent. This represents a year-on-year production increase of 57 million boe
or 155,000 boe per day (boepd).
The key drivers were:
•
Field restarts
(~46 million boe) – Elgin Franklin, Rhum, Shearwater, Banff, Gannet, Pierce and Andrew are all
examples of fields that were previously shut-in for various reasons but are now back on-stream and increasing
in output.
•
New field start-ups
(~33 million boe) – despite some project delays, 12 fields have come on-stream since
January 2014. The Golden Eagle Area, Kinnoul, Enochdhu, Ythan, Alma Galia, and Cladhan made the most notable
contributions to 2015 production.
•
Existing assets
(less ~22 million boe) – despite many assets now at the tail end of their productive life, delivery
from existing fields was above expectation with the average decline rate slowing from 12 to 4 per cent. Record
capital investment and operational expenditure in recent years, as well as the work of the Production Efficiency
Task Force, appear to be the catalyst for the improvement in reliability and integrity of existing assets leading to
increased output.
Figure 31 illustrates the source of the production increase by asset type and region. Most of the new start-ups
and restarts are in the CNS region. A rise in production has also been seen in the northern North Sea (NNS), where
many of the efficiency improvements have been realised, and the west of Shetland (W o S), which continues to
ramp up production as the basin’s least mature region with much ongoing development. In the SNS area, where
15 fields ceased production during 2015, a long-established trend of production decline continued.
Figure 31: Production Increase from 2014 to 2015 by Asset Type and Region
Field Restarts
New Field Start-ups
Existing Assets
CNS
NNS
SNS / Irish Sea / Onshore
W o S
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
2015 versus 2014 Net Production Change (Million boe)
Source: OGA, Oil & Gas UK
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Net gas excludes producers’ own use offshore.