Just as the clean up in the Gulf of Mexico faces its first hurricane, the North Sea oil and gas industry has been reaffirming its continued importance to the UK's energy supply with a major oil discovery and record interest in the 26th licensing round.
A consortium including Premier Oil, Nautical Petroleum and EnCore Oil has made what looks to be one of the largest North Sea oil discoveries in many years. Initial data from the Catcher East prospect in the central North Sea suggests it is connected to the earlier Catcher discovery, which indicates a larger single field than had been estimated before drilling. Preliminary analysis indicates that the Catcher structure could contain up to 300m barrels of oil, of which analysts estimate 120m barrels might be recoverable. On top of this, surrounding prospects could hold significant further resources. Steve Jenkins, Nautical's chief executive, said that "the resources discovered to date should lead to a major development".
Oil & Gas UK, the representative body of the UK offshore oil and gas industry, welcomed the significant scale of the Catcher discovery. Its chief executive Malcolm Webb commented that this contrasted with average North Sea discoveries over the past decade of only around 25m barrels.
Energy minister Charles Hendry underlined the importance of the North Sea oil and gas industry to UK energy supplies as he approved the development of Apache's Bacchus oil field, also in the central North Sea, which has estimated reserves of 18m barrels. The minister commented: "The North Sea remains an important hub for investment and will continue to be at the heart of the UK's energy security for years to come." Alluding to the US oil spill, he added that "this approval is in accordance with the UK's stringent safety and environmental regimes in the North Sea, and shows that there are still plenty of opportunities for developments in UK waters."
That optimism over future opportunities is shared by the industry, which has submitted applications for 356 blocks under the current licensing round, the largest number applied for since licensing was launched in 1964.
