ECONOMIC REPORT 2013
17
As well as the rate of technical change and oil
and gas prices, government policy, particularly
fiscal policy, has also affected the pace of
development. Figure 6 shows how industry and
government are working together, under the
auspices of the task force, PILOT. The overall
intention is to ensure that the right policies are
in place and are being implemented to achieve
maximum economic recovery of oil and gas
from the UKCS.
For more information about PILOT and its
work, please refer to the sub-section below
entitled ‘The Road to 2040’.
Remaining Resources and Reserves
Oil and gas extraction from the UKCS has
provided the economy with energy supplies,
highly skilled and paid jobs, and more than
£300 billion (in 2012 money) to the Exchequer
in production taxes over the past 45 years.
During this period, 42 billion boe of oil and
gas have been produced, but there is still a
significant resource of some 15 to 24 billion
boe left to be developed. This will require
further exploration activity and increased
investment, in both existing and new fields.
About 7.4 billion boe should be produced from
existing fields and new projects that have
already been sanctioned. This can be seen
as the lowest likely figure for reserves, that
is the oil and gas which have a greater than
90 per cent chance of being recovered. In
reality, it is highly likely that there will be
further investment on theUKCS and, therefore,
more reserves recovered.
Figure 6: Policies to Increase Recoverable Resources
Aim
Policy
Work Group
Increase Reserves Discovered
Small Field Allowance
Oil & Gas UK Economic & Fiscal Forum
PILOT Exploration Task Force
Increase Recovery from Existing Assets
Brown Field Allowance
Oil & Gas UK Economic & Fiscal Forum
PILOT IOR and EOR Work Groups
Commercialisation of Marginal Discoveries
All Field Allowances
Oil & Gas UK Economic & Fiscal Forum
Extending the Life of Infrastructure
Infrastructure Code of
Practice (ICoP)
PILOT Infrastructure Access Group
Increase Production Efficiency
Asset Stewardship
PILOT Production Efficiency Task Force
Promoting Investment and Postponing
Decommissioning
Fiscal Certainty on
Decommissioning Relief
Oil & Gas UK Economic & Fiscal Forum
