In its annual report Thursday, Oil & Gas U.K. declared that Britain will be producing fewer barrels of oil compared to last year. The primary reason cited was the temporary shutdown of a major field due to leaks.
This is a reversal of the organization’s prediction back in February, which suggested that Britain’s national output would increase by approximately 50,000 barrels of oil and gas equivalent per day (boepd) against 2010 levels.
The organization had noted that Britain’s production levels were falling steadily after having hit a peak of 2.7 million boepd in 1999. 2011 saw just 1.8 million boepd being pumped.
As Britain fights to stimulate growth across sectors, this renewed shortfall in production will surely not help matters.
Reuters reports:
“There’s no denying that we’ve been going through a sticky period. This year has not started off too well and we’ve seen further production declines,” said Oil & Gas UK’s Chief Executive Malcolm Webb in a webcast.
Prospects look brighter for 2013, however. Various energy companies have funneled nearly $13 billion into the North Sea oil and gas prospects, in hopes of a fruitful return on their investment. It is expected that the North Sea developments will sustain around 440,000 jobs.
