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Brownfields
In this survey, 109 brownfield projects are reported containing 1.38 billion boe. This is up by just two projects
from last year, but the total related reserves have risen by 25 per cent. Strengthening brownfield investment
is therefore crucial to the future of the UKCS as it will improve the viability of many mature fields and extend
the life of infrastructure. This will be critical to sustain exploration activity. The introduction of the Brown Field
Allowance has been a significant contributory factor and may yet have a bigger role to play to promote increased
and enhanced oil recovery (IOR and EOR) projects.
New Fields
A total of 43 new developments have been reported on the UKCS in the latest survey, compared with 50 in last
year’s survey. Of these 43, eight are located in the west of Shetland (W of S), 22 in the central North Sea (CNS),
seven in the northern North Sea (NNS) and six in the southern North Sea (SNS) and Irish Sea (IS).
As can be seen in Figure 2, the smaller fields still dominate the undeveloped reserves portfolio, with only a third
of these fields being greater than 50 million boe. Whilst small fields (less than 50 million boe) are able to access
a field allowance, many of the larger potential field developments are not able to do so and may struggle to gain
sanction given current cost pressures and increased capital rationing by many oil companies.
Figure 2: Distribution of Undeveloped Reserves
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
0-10
10-20
20-50
50-100
100+
Number of Fields
Reserves (Million boe)
Activity Survey 2013
Activity Survey 2014
Source: Oil & Gas UK
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
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