Insight into the North Sea

The North Sea has two of the world’s largest ports on its coasts and is one of the most frequently traversed seas on the planet. Mention the North Sea to most people and they will most likely refer to the Oil industry for which it is widely renowned; however it also provides most of Northern Europe with fish. There are over 230 different species living in its waters. The commercially fished varieties include; Sole, Plaice, Mackerel, Haddock and Cod. Both the Oil industry and commercial fishing present a number of challenges in maintaining a balances and healthy eco-system.

Ask most people when they consider oil to have been discovered in the North Sea, and they would guess within the last 35 years; however the Germans first struck oil ways back in 1859 when drilling for coal. The discovery in the Southern North Sea basin, located above North Germany was the beginning of the German Oil industry, and up until 1890 a further 100 wells were drilled, 60 of which yielded oil. Natural Gas was discovered shortly after in 1910.

Then in August 1959 after five relatively quiet decades, a well drilled by Shell & Esso in Groningen, the Netherlands literally changed the Oil and Gas industry in Europe over night. The immense size of the Groningen field was soon realized. Geologists calculated it to be some twenty miles long with a capacity of 6 billion cubic feet per day, making it one of the largest gas fields in the world. After this huge discovery, commercial exploration in the North Sea truly got started.

Then in 1965 five further gas fields were discovered with a combined total of some 20 trillium cubic feet, which was more the enough to saturate the Northern European markets. By 1969 seismic ships were scouring as much of the North Sea as they could in search for the illusive black gold. The first massive oil discovery was made by the Phillips Petroleum Company in Norwegian waters. The ‘Ekofisk Field’ was Northern Europe’s first billion barrel oil field.

The North Sea is actually a relatively shallow sea, as most imagine imagine it to be deep. The Sea is shallowest in the South from less than 30 meters to a maximum of 200 meters in the North. The Norwegian trench is the only real deep area of the North Sea which cuts through the North-Western part of the sea and is up to 700 meters in the area called the Skagerrak.

Current opinion suggests the UK’s share of North Sea oil is now in decline, with present reserves diminishing swiftly from 35 years after the oilfields were first driller. A growing body of opinion suggests that the remaining oil field reserves have been consistently underestimated.

Up to 37 billion barrels of oil have now been extracted from the UK’s continental shelf, with an estimated 25.5 billion barrels remaining. Many Oil experts believe that the remaining reserves exceed current estimate by as much as one fifth. With the advent of new ‘smart-drill’ technology, and the ever spiraling price of oil, it is now economically viable to drill fields, once considered too difficult or too remote.

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