UK North Sea Output Falling

Output from the North Sea fell for the fifth month in a row in July, increasing concerns about the UK's growing reliance on imports from potentially volatile areas, writes Scotland's Herald newspaper.

Total production of oil and gas has averaged 2,088,083 barrels of oil equivalent per day which is down 10.3% on June and 17.9% on July 2006, according to the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Earlier this summer, production of gas was badly disrupted after a 251-mile central area transmission pipeline, which supplies around 20% of the UK's gas, was shut down after being damaged by a ship's anchor off Teesside

The decline suggests firms have not been able or inclined to bring on enough new production to compensate, although oil prices have been trading around record levels, writes the paper.

By staff writer