The Telegraph: Britain needs a new national oil company, not Russian oligarchs
Is the answer to Britain’s problem of how to revitalise the North Sea creating a new national oil company?
At the very beginning of developing the region’s life in the early 1970s, the Government turned to the British National Oil Corporation (BNOC) and the partly state-owned British Petroleum to kick start oil production offshore of Aberdeen.
At its peak in 1999, the North Sea produced around 4m barrels per day of oil and gas equivalent, which gave the UK almost complete energy security. Over its lifespan since 1968, around 40bn barrels of oil have been extracted and it is estimated that a further 16bn barrels still remain to be tapped.
The problem is that drilling for this oil will grow ever-more expensive as companies are forced to explore in deeper water on the very edge of the area known as the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) that lies west of the Shetland Isles.
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