From first discovery to 4.5 billion barrels a day – a brief history of North Sea oil

1965: British Petroleum discovers first North Sea gas field at West Sole off Yorkshire.

1967: Production starts at West Sole.

1969: First oil found in UK waters by Amoco in the Montrose field, 135 miles east of Aberdeen.

1975: Oil production starts from Argyll field operated by Hamilton.

1977: BP makes the first West of Shetland discovery in the Clair field.

1978: UK North Sea production tops one million barrels of oil per day for the first time. First production platform removed from West Sole field.

1980: Price of oil peaks at $40 per barrel – equivalent to $72 today.

1981: UK oil production exceeds consumption.

1985: Oil production reaches a new record at 127.5 million tonnes (3.31 million barrels of oil equivalent a day).

1986: Oil prices crash to under $10 per barrel.

1988: Piper Alpha tragedy on 6 July kills 167 men.

1991: One hundred fields in production in the UK.

1996: Development well activity reaches new record with 261 wells started.

1997: Record number of 186 offshore fields in production

1998: The UK Belgium gas Interconnector opens, joining the British and continental markets together for the first time and allowing both gas exports to and, at time of peak demand, imports from mainland Europe. The oil price again falls to $10 per barrel.

1999: Oil price falls to $9.83 per barrel. UK oil and gas production peaks at 4.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.

2000: Oil and gas from UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) provides 85 per cent of UK’s primary energy needs.

2001: Department of Trade and Industry approves 21 new field development projects. Half of the recoverable reserves from the UKCS are estimated to have been produced, with the second, more difficult, half still to come.

2002: Investment in UKCS exceeds £22 billion since 1964 with tax paid by upstream oil and gas firms reaching £109bn.

2003: UK ranks seventh largest producer of oil and gas in the world.

2005: 152 licences offered to 99 companies, including 24 new entrants to the UKCS, in the 23rd licensing round, the biggest offer since the first round in 1964.

2006: UK oil and gas production declines for the seventh consecutive year, down 9 per cent on 2005. Eighty-two exploration and appraisal wells drilled, with 38 per cent success rate (up from 24 per cent in 2005) and an average discovery size of 10 million barrels of oil equivalent.

2007: Oil and Gas UK, a not-for-profit organisation, established on the foundations of the UK Offshore Operators Association.

2011: BP gets go-ahead for £4.5bn development in Clair Field west of Shetland, one of four planned projects costing £10bn.