Harry, part of the problem with people's perception of the state of the oil and gas industry in the UK is that the UK mainstream media tends to give very little prominence to good news and lots of prominent coverage to bad news. More balanced coverage is provided in company accounts, company press releases and industry / investment websites.
Here are some examples of recent stories that have received little attention in the UK mainstream media;
U.K. North Sea Oil Field Startups Surge to 10-Year High
Wood Mackenzie expects the U.K. continental shelf to pump about 1.9 million barrels equivalent a day of oil and gas on average in 2018, with production from the new fields this year accounting for as much as 12 percent of that total.
BP Chief says North Sea Costs are $15 per Barrel
... our average production costs in the North Sea coming down from a peak of over $30 a barrel in 2014, to less than $15 a barrel today. Heading towards 2020, with all our major new developments coming into production, we expect that to come down below $12 a barrel in the North Sea,” the BP chief executive said.
Hurricane Energy sweeps towards first oil, confirms final investment decision
Hurricane’s acreage is concentrated on the Rona Ridge, West of Shetland. The Lancaster licence, the company’s most appraised asset, has combined 2P Reserves and 2C Resources of 523 million barrels. In addition, the company has 205 million barrels of oil equivalent on its Whirlwind licence
During the 2016-2017 drilling campaign the company made two significant discoveries at Halifax and Lincoln, indicating that the Greater Lancaster Area and the Greater Warwick Area have the potential to be two large accumulations.
Total starts production at Edradour & Glenlivet fields, West of Shetland
Total has announced start-up of production from the Edradour & Glenlivet gas and condensate fields, located in about 300 to 435 m of water in the West of Shetland area, close to Laggan-Tormore fields, which came on stream in February 2016. The Edradour and Glenlivet development will bring additional production capacity of up to 56,000 boed.
That's not to say that everything in the North Sea is rosy but the situation is not as bad as many people have been led to believe.