Picture by Mike Pennington, Creative Commons
The end of the North Sea as a major oil producer has been predicted for a decade. But news of its demise has usually been exaggerated. Today’s announcement that a consortium of oil companies led by BP will invest around £330m confirms that. BP’s partners in the drilling programme are Shell, ConocoPhillips and Chevron.
They’ve already started drilling the first of five wells at Clair, west of Shetland, in an appraisal programme that could lead to further development in the future. Indeed, the results could lead to up to 12 wells being, depending on the initial results. The Clair oilfield was discovered in the late 1970s but, because of the technical difficulties in bringing oil ashore, actual production did not start until 2005. However, it’s described as a “monster” field of some eight billion barrels of oil. Indeed, some analysts believe that the oil produced there could mean that the Atlantic eventually overtook the North Sea as the UK’s biggest oil-producing region.
The announcement was made on the same day as the Government unveiled its new oil and gas strategy, designed to secure thousands of jobs and billions of pounds of investment. 
The UK Business Secretary, Vince Cable (right), was joined by Scottish Secretary Michael Moore and UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey stressed the need for “tax certainty”, supply chain support and skills development when they spoke to business leaders in Aberdeen, the oil capital of Europe.
The stated aims of the strategy include tackling a looming skills shortage in the oil industry. . The oil and gas sector expect to create around 15,000 new jobs over the next five years. The Government proposes that at least some of these could be filled by re-training some of the people currently leaving the military. But ministers are also working on way to support more technological advancement in the industry through research and development. And in particular, it will work to improve the perceptions of an industry which it says are “out-dated and inaccurate”.
Mr Cable explained that he wanted the Government “…to consider what barriers are stopping British companies bidding for and winning work in the North Sea. This is an expanding industry. We can either help create more jobs and opportunities across the UK if we get this right, or see work going overseas if not.”
Following the publication of the strategy, Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing (left) said he was “delighted that the UK government are following the Scottish government’s lead in recognising the strength and importance of the oil and gas industry by launching their own oil and gas strategy. I am pleased that the UK government highlight the positive future of the industry for years to come, the extent of reserves, and the benefit to the balance of payments, and production taxes. I welcome their view that there will be a long term future for the oil and gas industry well beyond 2055.”