UK Oil and Gas Fields - An Overview

Abstract This volume was conceived when one of us (JG) returned to the UK in mid-1996. Having not worked the UK offshore since the late 1980s it was clear that there had been many changes, not least in the number of fields on production. During that first year back in the UK, JG's copy of Abbots (1991) UK Oil and Gas Fields, 25 Years Commemorative Volume became exceedingly well used. A casual comment to Wendy Cawthorne of the Geological Society library to this effect solicited the response that JG was not alone in finding Abbots (1991) useful. Memoir 14 was the Geological Society's 'best seller'. However, although Abbots (1991) continues to sell well, it was by 1996 out of date insofar as it contains papers describing only about half of the fields then on production. A combination of egotistical zeal, wishing for a bestseller and altruism towards the UK industry led us to make an offer to the Geological Society to revise Memoir 14. The offer was accepted and by April 1998, editors had been appointed and letters of invitation to contribute to the memoir were sent to exploration managers in all the UK operating companies. The responses to those letters were for the most part positive. A request was made to authors for manuscripts to be sent to the editors by June 1999. The first to arrive was six months ahead of schedule (thanks A. Yaliz & N. McKim for their paper on the Douglas Field). However, neither the editors

by April 1998, editors had been appointed and letters of invitation to contribute to the memoir were sent to exploration managers in all the UK operating companies. The responses to those letters were for the most part positive. A request was made to authors for manuscripts to be sent to the editors by June 1999. The first to arrive was six months ahead of schedule (thanks A. Yaliz & N. McKim for their paper on the Douglas Field). However, neither the editors, nor we suspect the authors anticipated how much the industry was going to change in 1999 and 2000. The UK licence map was literally redrawn as companies merged and others were taken over. In this turmoil, it is astonishing to us that so many authors were able to complete their papers.
As we draft this introduction in April 2001, it is clear that the volume has captured an enormous quantity of hitherto unpublished information on the oil and gas fields of the UK. It is also clear that it is already out of date. Only when petroleum ceases to be produced by the UK will it be possible to fully complete a volume such as this.

What is in this book?
This book contains a forward by Ian Abbots (Gulf Canada), editor of the best-selling Memoir 14, a review of how the major plays were discovered by Richard Hardman (Amerada Hess) and an introduction to the stratigraphical context of the UK's petroleum resources by John Underhilt (University of Edinburgh). Maps showing all of the UK fields in the context of their plays support Underhill's chapter. The main part of the book is divided into eight parts covering: 9 East Irish Sea Fields 9 Atlantic Margin Fields 9 Viking Graben Fields 9 Moray Firth Fields 9 Central Graben Fields 9 Southern North Sea Gas Fields 9 East Midlands Basin Fields 9 Weald and Wessex Basin Fields Each of these sections is further divided into one or more chapters, whereby each chapter describes a field or cluster of fields. Each of the field description chapters follows a simple constant format: This common format should enable readers to get the data they need easily and efficiently. In general readers will find that for the older fields there is greater emphasis on the production story while on new fields the geological description is pre-eminent. There are about 130 fields described in this volume. One of the significant strengths of Memoir 14 is the presence of a large appendix containing summarized field data that includes geology, reservoir properties and fluid composition and properties. A similar table exists in Appendix 1 of this volume.

Sources of additional data on UK oil and gas fields
It was our hope at the outset of this project to capture all the fields currently on production. This did not prove possible for a number of reasons. While most of the operating companies were positive about this project and gave freely the time of their staff to act as authors, a few companies declined to participate. In the absence of chapters on some fields we have striven to maintain the comprehensive nature of this volume by providing an extensive bibliography. Appendix 2 lists all the fields onshore and offshore that have produced oil and or gas, together with some of the larger fields still undergoing development. To our surprise there are more than 300 fields in the UK that have produced petroleum. References are given for papers in which the fields are described and reference location maps are provided at the front of each part.
In addition to this memoir and Memoir 14, the primary sources of data on UK oil and gas fields are: (1) The Petroleum Geology of Northwest Europe conference volumes. There are five such volumes, each with slightly different names and published in 1975, 1981, 1987, 1993 and 1999. They are currently published by the Geological Society although older volumes were published by other organizations. They are often collectively referred to as the Barbican volumes after the venue for the last few of the conferences. (2) The Geological Society Memoir 2 was published in 1960.
It contains a thorough account of the early years for petroleum exploration and production for onshore UK. has published several volumes titled Giant Fields of the Decade within its memoir series. These books are also a useful source of field specific data for the larger UK fields.