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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
Abbi Garton-Crosbie

The North Sea oil and gas fields brought into production since 1975

SINCE the Forties oil fields near Aberdeen produced its first barrels of oil in 1975, scores have followed in its wake.

As well as oil itself, numerous gas and condensate fields, a natural gas by-product in liquid form, have come into production in Scottish waters.

As part of our exclusive series investigating the impact of the McCrone Report (a secret government memorandum compiled 49 years ago by the Scotland Office) on energy policy, the cost-of-living crisis and a whole other host of issues affecting modern Scotland, we have put together a series of interactive graphs to set out the scale of production in the North Sea.

In total, 180 fields' first production have been logged by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), the rebranded industry regulator Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), since 1975. 

The first two oil fields, Forties and AUK, came online in 1975. Since then, a steady supply of fossil fuels has made its way out of Scottish waters. 

How many of each kind of field have been brought into production?

As you can see from the graph above, by far there have been a significant number of oil fields that have successfully started production in the North Sea - 138.

Condensate fields come second with 34 logging their first production since 1975, compared to only eight gas fields. 

How many oil fields were brought online each year?

NSTA data logs each individual field by the first date they produced either oil, gas or condensate, so for The National's analysis we had to combine the data into each year and by each product.

As you can see from the graph above, this revealed that 1996, the last year of the UK Conservative government under John Major, was when the highest amount of fields completed production for the first time in one year.

The second, 2017, was just a few years after Scotland voted No in the independence referendum. 

How does this look over time?

Our interactive graph above shows the number of oil fields that produced their first fossil fuels each year from 1975 until 2022. 

As NSTA do not give locations for these fields, except for grid references, we have also compiled them into a list below for ease. 

Year, Number of fields, Hydrocarbon type, Name. 

1975 2 OIL FORTIES, AUK

1976 3 OIL MONTROSE, BERYL, PIPER

1977 1 OIL CLAYMORE

1978 1 OIL NINIAN

1979 2 OIL STATFJORD [UK], SOUTH CORMORANT

1982 1 OIL CORMORANT NORTH

1983 2 OIL BRAE SOUTH (Pt of BRAE), MAGNUS

1985 2 OIL HIGHLANDER, SCAPA

1986 2 GAS SEAN NORTH, sean south

1986 1 OIL PETRONELLA

1987 2 OIL CLYDE, NESS, NORTH ALWYN

1988 1 CONDENSATE BRAE NORTH (Pt of BRAE)

1989 1 OIL TERN

1990 3 OIL ARBROATH, CYRUS, KITTIWAKE

1992 3 OIL LEVEN, GANNET D, GANNET C

1992 1 GAS GANNET B

1993 8 OIL LYELL, HUDSON, SCOTT, GRYPHON, TIFFANY, GANNET A, TONI, STRATHSPEY

1993 1 CONDENSATE BRAE EAST

1993 1GAS BRUCE

1994 4 OIL ALBA, NELSON, MACHAR, DUNBAR

1994 1 GAS EAST SEAN

1994 1 CONDENSATE ELLON

1995 1 OIL BIRCH

1995 2 CONDENSATE JUDY, JOANNE

1996 10 OIL PELICAN, HARDING, ANDREW, NEVIS, GUILLEMOT A, TEAL SOUTH, THELMA, TELFORD, BRIMMOND, ARKWRIGHT

1997 3 OIL TEAL, CAPTAIN, FOINAVEN

1997 3 CONDENSATE FLEMING, DRAKE, ERSKINE

1998 6 OIL GANNET E, GALLEY, MALLARD, SCHIEHALLION, LOYAL [Part of SCHIEHALLION], MONAN

1998 3 CONDENSATE BRITANNIA, GRANT, MARNOCK

1999 4 OIL PIERCE, ROSS, GANNET G, BUCKLAND 

2000 5 OIL BITTERN, GUILLEMOT WEST, COOK, GUILLEMOT NORTH WEST, KEITH

2001 3 CONDENSATE ELGIN, FRANKLIN, SKENE

2001 2 OIL BLAKE, KESTREL

2002 2 CONDENSATE JADE, HAWKINS

2002 5 OIL MACLURE, TULLICH, OTTER, MIRREN, MADOES

2003 5 OIL PENGUIN EAST, PENGUIN WEST, CALEDONIA, SYCAMORE, CLAPHAM

2003 2 CONDENSATE SEYMOUR, BRAEMAR

2004 2 OIL NETHAN, HOWE

2005 6 OIL CARNOUSTIE, CLAIR, GADWALL, PICT, BRECHIN, FARRAGON

2005 2 CONDENSATE FORVIE NORTH, GLENELG

2005 1 GAS RHUM

2006 1 OIL GOOSANDER

2007 7 OIL DONAN, TWEEDSMUIR, ENOCH, BLANE, DUART, SAXON, WOOD

2008 1 CONDENSATE BRODGAR

2008 6 OIL MARIA, TWEEDSMUIR SOUTH, BOA, CALLANISH, CHESTNUT, GROUSE

2009 1 OIL AFFLECK

2010 4 OIL LOCHRANZA, MAULE, BARDOLINO, LOIRSTON,

2011 1 OIL FALCON

2012 2 CONDENSATE ISLAY, DEVENICK

2012 2 OIL BACCHUS, LYBSTER

2013 3 OIL CORMORANT EAST, TONTO, BALLOCH

2013 1 CONDENSATE JASMINE

2014 2 OIL GOLDEN EAGLE, KINNOULL

2015 5 OIL PEREGRINE, ENOCHDHU, GODWIN, CLADHAN, SOLITAIRE

2016 2 CONDENSATE LAGGAN, TORMORE

2016 3 OIL SOLAN, CRATHES, SCOLTY

2016 1 GAS AVIAT

2017 9 OIL STELLA, FLYNDRE, SHAW, CALLATER, KRAKEN, KRAKEN NORTH, HARRIS, BARRA, CATCHER, 

2017 3 CONDENSATE CAYLEY, EDRADOUR, GLENLIVET

2018 2 OIL BURGMAN, GARTEN

2019 4 OIL ORLANDO, BALLINDALLOCH, MARINER, BARNACLE

2019 2 CONDENSATE UTGARD, STORR

2020 2 OIL ALLIGIN, VORLICH

2020 1 CONDENSATE FRAM

2021 2 CONDENSATE ARRAN, FINLAGGAN

2021 1 GAS LOMOND (COLUMBUS)

2022 1 OIL EVELYN

Source: North Sea Transition Authority 

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