North Sea gas drying up faster than hoped (!!!)

advancedatheist · Heavy Crude Joined: Mar 10, 2005 Posts: 171

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=2403612005

clv101

It's not just gas:

For the three months June 2005 to August 2005 compared to the same period a year earlier:
- production of petroleum fell by 16.2%;
- production of natural gas fell by 17.0%;
- production of coal and other solid fuels fell by 24.9%;
- electricity produced from nuclear sources rose by 11.8%;
- electricity produced from wind and natural flow hydro fell by 4.4%.

We can probably discount the increase in nuclear as an anomaly since we know the fleet is being decommissioned over the next decade or so, I’ll put it down to there being one or more reactors down for maintenance in 2004 that are operating again now.

Bad News For UK Energy
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Doly · Expert Joined: Dec 03, 2004 Posts: 4041

Then where did the energy in the UK come from last year?

bobbyald

This is basically what I expected as far as natural gas is concerned and it's not a good situation to be in. What happens in the years ahead if Algeria, Russia etc. can't or wont supply us at any price?

Chaos!
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EnergySpin · Fission Joined: Jun 25, 2005 Posts: 2381

TITAN

"North Sea gas drying up faster than hoped "

I don't know, I can hope pretty darned fast...

Seriously though, I wish this thing would hurry up, I didn't go out and get completely prepared for PO for nothing!!

BorneoRagnarok

Doomed ,we are doomed.
I feel so panic that I type out a simple VBS script to calculate the oil production output N years after peak production at X depletion rate

TorrKing

PWALPOCO

BBC - North Sea Investment Cut

Of course , stories like the above indicate how much harder its going to be to get more goodies out of the North Sea.

After "The Great Gordos" amazing trick of making Oil Company profits dissapear "Abra-cad-windfall-tax-ra" its little wonder their means of striking back is to pull some of the investment.

Well done Gordon Brown , you muppet.

Paul

clv101

I don't believe Gordon Brown's recent tax decision is the reason for Shell only running two rigs where they previously planned three. This is just Shell trying to make Brown look bad.
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"Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen." The Emperor (Return of the Jedi)
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PWALPOCO

clv , indeed your probably right , they may well just be throwing their toys out the cot , so to speak.

However , I remember watching live , when the oil people were giving evidence to a House of Commons committee on the very subject of windfall taxes and remember clearly what was being said.

Back then , for I think it was in the spring , those asking the questions raised the subject of windfall taxes repeatedly to the different company representatives as they came and went.

Each time the response was that a windfall tax would deter investment. Investments are based on the long term , when oil was very cheap no one was helping investers who werent getting the returns on that investment. The moment the "good times" came the Government start talking about windfall taxes !

On the basis of what they said back then , and whats reported now , I can only conclude that the Windfall Tax is the cause. Basically what they said would happen has happened.

Paul

clv101

But this tax isn't so large... $60 oil is vastly more (even after this tax) than they would have planned for two years ago. Their obvious response to the suggestion of more tax is less investment, less service, less product etc whatever business you are in. In this case however I think the oil majors working in the UK are cash rich and whatever Brown decides to do tax wise the North Sea output will meet it's geological potential.
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"Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen." The Emperor (Return of the Jedi)
The Oil Drum: Europe