Editing North Sea (section)

===Oil and gas===
{{further|North Sea oil|List of oil and gas fields of the North Sea}}
As early as 1859, oil was discovered in onshore areas around the North Sea and [[natural gas]] as early as 1910.<ref name="Glennie">{{Cite book | last =Glennie | first =K. W. | year =1998 | title =Petroleum Geology of the North Sea: Basic Concepts and Recent Advances | publisher =Blackwell Publishing | pages =11–12 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=BRoJwOzO3NUC&pg=PA11 | isbn =978-0-632-03845-9 | access-date =1 July 2020 | archive-date =17 April 2023 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20230417084131/https://books.google.com/books?id=BRoJwOzO3NUC&pg=PA11 | url-status =live }}</ref> Onshore resources, for example the [[K12-B]] field in the Netherlands continue to be exploited today.

[[File:StatfjordA(Jarvin1982).jpg|thumb|Oil platform [[Statfjord oil field|Statfjord]] A with the [[flotel]] Polymarine]]

Offshore test drilling began in 1966 and then, in 1969, [[Phillips Petroleum Company]] discovered the [[Ekofisk oil field]]<ref name="Ekofisk">{{cite book
|last=Pratt
|first=J. A.
|editor=T. Priest, & Cas James
|title=Offshore Pioneers: Brown & Root and the History of Offshore Oil and Gas
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TW6yMgPdgbQC&pg=PP1
|access-date=8 December 2008
|year=1997
|publisher=Gulf Professional Publishing
|isbn=978-0-88415-138-8
|page=222
|chapter=Ekofisk and Early North Sea Oil
|archive-date=17 April 2023
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230417084132/https://books.google.com/books?id=TW6yMgPdgbQC&pg=PP1
|url-status=live
}}</ref> distinguished by valuable, low-sulphur oil.<ref name="Lohne">{{cite book
|last=Lohne
|first=Øystein
|title=The Oil Industry and Government Strategy in the North Sea
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jZIOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA73
|year=1980
|publisher=Taylor & Francis
|isbn=978-0-918714-02-2
|page=74
|chapter=The Economic Attraction
|access-date=1 July 2020
|archive-date=17 April 2023
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230417084136/https://books.google.com/books?id=jZIOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA73
|url-status=live
}}</ref> Commercial exploitation began in 1971 with [[Petroleum tanker|tankers]] and, after 1975, by a [[pipeline transport|pipeline]], first to [[Teesside]], England and then, after 1977, also to [[Emden]], Germany.<ref>{{cite web
 |title        = TOTAL E&P NORGE AS&nbsp;– The history of Fina Exploration 1965–2000
 |work         = About TOTAL E&P NORGE > History > Fina
 |url          = http://www.total.no/en/About+TOTAL+NORGE/History/Fina/index.aspx
 |access-date  = 15 January 2009
 |url-status   = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20061007012331/http://www.total.no/en/About+TOTAL+NORGE/History/Fina/index.aspx
 |archive-date = 7 October 2006
}}</ref>

The exploitation of the North Sea [[oil reserves]] began just before the [[1973 oil crisis]], and the climb of international oil prices made the large investments needed for extraction much more attractive.<ref>{{cite book
|last=McKetta
|first=John J.
|editor=Guy E. Weismantel
|title=Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design: Volume 67 – Water and Wastewater Treatment: Protective Coating Systems to Zeolite
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MfjDlUe8Kc0C&pg=PA102
|year=1999
|publisher=CRC Press
|isbn=978-0-8247-2618-8
|page=102
|chapter=The Offshore Oil Industry
}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
The start in 1973 of the oil reserves by the UK allowed them to stop the declining position in international trade in 1974, and a huge increase after the discovery and exploitation of the huge oil field by Phillips group in 1977 as the [[Brae field]].

Although the production costs are relatively high, the quality of the oil, the political stability of the region, and the proximity of important markets in [[western Europe]] have made the North Sea an important oil-producing region.<ref name="Lohne"/> The largest single humanitarian catastrophe in the North Sea [[Petroleum industry|oil industry]] was the destruction of the offshore [[oil platform]] [[Piper Alpha]] in 1988 in which 167 people lost their lives.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/6/newsid_3017000/3017294.stm| title=On This Day 6 July 1988: Piper Alpha oil rig ablaze| publisher=BBC| access-date=3 November 2008| date=6 July 1988| archive-date=3 September 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120903235323/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/6/newsid_3017000/3017294.stm| url-status=live}}</ref>

Besides the Ekofisk oil field, the [[Statfjord oil field]] is also notable as it was the cause of the first pipeline to span the [[Norwegian trench]].<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.gassco.no/wps/wcm/connect/Gassco-EN/gassco/home/var-virksomhet/ror-og-plattformer/statpipe_rich_gas/| title=Statpipe Rich Gas| publisher=Gassco| access-date=3 November 2008| archive-date=14 June 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614102612/http://www.gassco.no/wps/wcm/connect/Gassco-EN/Gassco/Home/var-virksomhet/ror-og-plattformer/statpipe_rich_gas/| url-status=dead}}</ref> The largest [[natural gas field]] in the North Sea, [[Troll gas field]], lies in the Norwegian trench, dropping over {{convert|300|m|ft}}, requiring the construction of the enormous [[Troll A platform]] to access it.

The price of [[Brent Crude]], one of the first types of oil extracted from the North Sea is used today as a standard price for comparison for [[Petroleum|crude oil]] from the rest of the world.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/northseabrentcrude.asp| title=North Sea Brent Crude| publisher=Investopedia ULC| access-date=3 November 2008| archive-date=26 October 2008| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081026171717/http://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/northseabrentcrude.asp| url-status=live}}</ref> The North Sea contains western Europe's largest oil and natural gas reserves and is one of the world's key non-OPEC producing regions.<ref>{{cite web
| title = North Sea
| work = Country Analysis Briefs
| publisher = Energy Information Administration (EIA)
| date = January 2007
| url = http://www.auburn.edu/~johnspm/gloss/absolute_advantage
| access-date = 23 January 2008
| archive-date = 9 March 2009
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090309153553/http://www.auburn.edu/~johnspm/gloss/absolute_advantage
| url-status = live
}}</ref>

In the UK sector of the North Sea, the oil industry invested £14.4&nbsp;billion in 2013 and was on track to spend £13&nbsp;billion in 2014. Industry body [[Oil & Gas UK]] put the decline down to rising costs, lower production, high tax rates, and less exploration.<ref name="ShellUK">{{cite news|title=Shell to cut 250 onshore jobs at its Scotland North Sea operations|url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/shell-cut-250-onshore-jobs-091711459.html|date=12 August 2014|access-date=16 December 2014|work=Yahoo Finance|archive-date=14 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714044647/http://finance.yahoo.com/news/shell-cut-250-onshore-jobs-091711459.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In January 2018, The North Sea region contained 184 offshore rigs, which made it the region with the highest number of offshore rigs in the world at the time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/279100/number-of-offshore-rigs-worldwide-by-region/|title=Number offshore rigs worldwide by region 2018|website=Statista|access-date=9 July 2018|archive-date=9 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709215723/https://www.statista.com/statistics/279100/number-of-offshore-rigs-worldwide-by-region/|url-status=live}}</ref><br>

The British North Sea's oil and gas production, peaking in 2000, had declined by 2024, while offshore wind projects like Dogger Bank grew to support renewable energy goals, with windfall taxes funding the transition.<ref>{{Cite news |date=3 January 2024|title=The fall of UK North Sea oil and rise of offshore wind|newspaper=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/fall-uk-north-sea-oil-rise-offshore-wind-2025-01-03/ |access-date=4 January 2024}}</ref>