North Sea under pressure
The industry still thinks the mature province offers opportunities, but the good times may not have long to roll
While the short-term outlook for the North Sea is bright, it's still hard to see how the sector can maintain momentum beyond the early 2020s without more big finds—and they have largely proved elusive in recent years. The oil and gas production outlook for Norway, the UK and the Netherlands is largely flat or one of gentle decline up to 2025, with a handful of sizeable discoveries now coming into production helping to ameliorate the impact of output declines in existing fields. Rystad Energy, a consultancy, forecasts that West European operators—mainly active in those three countries—will produce just over 7m barrels of oil equivalent in 2017, falling to around 6.2m boe/d in 2025. Production
Also in this section
4 March 2026
The US president has repeatedly promised to lower gasoline prices, but this ambition conflicts with his parallel aim to increase drilling and could be upended by his war against Iran
4 March 2026
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed following US-Israel strikes and Iran’s retaliatory escalation, Fujairah has become the region’s critical pressure release valve—and is now under serious threat
3 March 2026
The killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in US–Israeli strikes marks the most serious escalation in the region in decades and a bigger potential threat to the oil market than the start of the Russia-Ukraine crisis
2 March 2026
A potential blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following the escalating US-Iran conflict risks disrupting Qatari LNG exports that underpin global gas markets, exposing Asia and other markets to sharp price spikes, cargo shortages and renewed reliance on dirtier fuels
