Tycooon warns over North Sea Oil

There is “no way” that energy firms will be able to extract 20 billion barrels of oil from the North Sea while exploration rates remain at a record low, MPS have been told.

Oil tycoon Sir Ian Wood said there needed to be “some serious exploration done” to extract the maximum 20 bil- lion barrels that could remain underground.

He spoke out after Deirdre Michie, chief executive of industry body Oil and Gas UK, told the Scottish Affairs Committee that drilling in the North Sea had hit an all-time low.

The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) estimated there are the equivalent of between 10 and 20 billion barrels of oil remaining off the shore of the UK.

With some 44 billion barrels already removed, she said that meant “you could say there is another third of activity still to go”. But Sir Ian, who previously carried out a review for the UK Government into how to maximise recovery, said: “We’re still looking at 11.7 billion barrels, way short of 20 billion barrels we hoped for.”