Originally Posted by
ersa
I wouldn't worry about the north sea running out of oil, they are finding new technology every year to tap oil supplies , they couldn't get previously.
^^^This^^^
I remember when I was in school 30 years ago that we were told that the NS oil was going to run out in 30 years time. Yet, they are still finding new fields and, like ersa says, they now have technology to recover oil and gas that was previously unreachable. Once the O&G runs out, there are going to be lots of big holes under the sea floor which they are going to want to fill with something ('carbon capture' has already been proposed and tested). Then once everything is finally depleted, they are going to have to decommission the hundreds of rigs out there. Which is going to take a a good few years.
So, personally, I wouldn't worry about North Sea flying ending within the span of our flying careers. The number of aircraft and pilots required is going to change (both up and down, generally in cycles) but there is going to be offshore flying in Europe for some time to come yet.