North Sea Oil Facts and Figures
Significant Dates:
| YEAR | EVENT |
|---|---|
| 1959 | Discovery of the Groningen gas field in the Netherlands |
| 1964 | First UK offshore licensing round |
| 1965 | First North Sea gas field discovered by BP (West Sole) |
| 1967 | West Sole first UK gas field to start production |
| First Norwegian oil discovery (Balder field) by Esso | |
| 1969 | First UK offshore oil discovery (Arbroath field) by Amoco |
| 1970 | Giant Ekofisk discovery offshore Norway by BP |
| Forties oil field also discovered by BP | |
| 1975 | First UK offshore oil production, the Argyll field, commenced in June 1975, operated by Hamilton Bros. |
| Oil production commenced from Forties field in September, 1975. | |
| 1977 | First oil discovery west of Shetland by BP (Clair field) |
| First gas delivered from Norway to UK (Frigg field, landed at St. Fergus) | |
| 1978 | First offshore platform removed in the UK sector (West Sole) |
| 1980 | 27th March, Alexander Kielland flotel capsizes, killing 127 people |
| 1981 | UK became net oil exporter |
| 1988 | July 6th, Piper Alpha disaster kills 167 men |
| 1995 | First export of UK gas to Ireland |
| 1999 | UK oil production peaked at 125 million tonnes of oil |
| 2001 | UK offshore gas production peaked at 113 billion cubic metres |
Oil Price:
Current ICE Prices available at:
https://www.theice.com/productguide/ProductDetails.shtml?&marketId=217927
Oil Production:
Gas Price:
Gas Production:
Conversion Factors
(source: Bank of Scotland Oil & Gas Handbook, 6th edition)
| Heat | |
1 BTU = | 1054 joules |
1 Therm = | 100,000 BTU |
| Pressure | |
1 Bar = | 14.503 pounds per square inch |
| Volume | |
1 Barrel = | 42 US Gallons |
| 34.9756 Imperial Gallons | |
| 158.984 litres | |
| 9.702 cu. In. | |
| 5.6146 cu. ft. | |
| 0.159 cu. metres | |
1 cu. metre = | 219.97 Imperial Gallons |
| 264.17 US Gallons (6.3 Barrels) | |
| 35.315 cu.ft. | |
| Volume/Weight Equivalents | |
| Crude Oil | |
Gravity API | Barrels per metric tonne @ 60°F/15°F |
45 | 7.9 |
40 | 7.6 |
35 | 7.4 |
30 | 7.2 |
25 | 7.0 |
20 | 6.8 |
15 | 6.5 |
| Natural Gas Thermal Equivalents | |
| One million cubic feet (mmcf) of natural gas approximately equates to: | |
| 987,000 MJ | |
| 936 million BTU | |
| 274,000 KWh | |
| 33.4 tonnes of coal | |
| 19.6 tonnes of LNG | |
| 24.4 tonnes of heavy fuel oil | |
