17 BLACK GOLD FACTS

North Sea oil is measured in worth by a price benchmark called Brent Crude. Over the past decade it has varied in price from around $120 to almost single figures.

Aberdeen, due to its proximity to many offshore fields, found itself becoming the Oil Capital of Europe from the early 1970s onward. House prices and office space have risen and fallen much in line with oil and gas demand ever since. The oil boom changed Aberdeen’s business focus from fishing to adapting to the new ‘black gold’ that took over the economy.

There are nearly 200 installations of varying types in the North Sea. Some have been decommissioned – stripped and made obsolete in recent years.

The Piper Alpha rig was at the centre of the worst disaster to hit the North Sea. A gas explosion killed 167 men on July 6, 1988. The blast ripped apart the rig. Most offshore workers are ferried to installations by helicopter. There have been a number of accidents involving these aircraft in the past 11 years, causing 20 deaths.

In 1986 a Chinook helicopter crashed off Shetland killing 43 passengers and two crew.

It is believed oil reserves could last another 20 years in the North Sea. This has inspired the industry to set a goal of moving towards carbon-free methods of producing power.

Oil is measured in barrels as a standard way of quantifying reserves and stockpiles.

So far, 45billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) have been produced from the UK’s section of the North Sea.

The industry currently produces just over 600million boe per year (1.68million boe per day)

There are 10-20 billion boe estimated to still be in place

Production in 2019 was enough to meet 63 per cent of the UK’s oil and gas needs. This is also equivalent to 46 per cent of all the energy used in the UK last year The industry contributes more than £15billion to the UK’s gross value added (GVA).

The sector supports around 270,000 jobs both through direct employment and through supply chains. There are around 300 oil and gas fields throughout the North Sea, with around 50,000 people a year travelling offshore.