Economic Report 2000 Index

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Meeting the Challenge UKCS Reserves Up to the beginning of 2000, some 27 billion boe has been produced from the UKCS. Many commentators believe that we are close to the half way point in the life of the basin with as much again to be extracted over the next 30 years. What is clear is that the development of the remaining oil and gas will be more difficult, given the combination of smaller field sizes, higher development costs, ageing infrastructure and lower real product prices. Figure 13 illustrates the distribution of the remaining potential reserves with some 13 billion boe in "yet to find", from a range of 5-30 billion; a large number, but hampered by an average expected discovery size of just 30 million boe. The interesting feature is the large potential in Brown Fields, estimated to be some 4 billion boe. (A Brown Field is any field which is currently in production or under development.) Today, most of this Brown Field potential is uneconomic; however new technology and an improved economic environment which removes unnecessary regulation and fiscal disincentives could significantly improve the prospects for commercialisation. Typical projects which capture this potential are enhanced oil recovery (EOR) schemes, infill and extended reach drilling, smart wells etc. It is important to note that 40% of Brown Field potential is gas and about half of the potential resides in the Central North Sea.