UK North Sea’s oil production is expected to revert to a decline again next year, after a brief period of growth since 2015, according to consultants at Bernstein. Since peaking at 2.6 million bpd in 1999, the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) production had been in decline until 2014, after which, thanks to start-ups and improved production from existing fields with infill drilling, oil production has stabilized. “The stability and even growth from 2015 to 2018 will prove temporary in nature for this 1 million bpd basin,” Bernstein said in a report on Monday, quoted by Reuters. Production efficiency has slowed the decline of the mature fields, and according to Bernstein, production efficiency of wells and platforms on the UKCS rose to 73 percent in 2016 from 60 percent back in 2012, which accounted for a 200,000-bpd increase in production between 2012 and 2016. At the same time, recent new […]