DrillOrDrop’s review of the latest UK onshore production data, for April 2023, reveals a big drop in monthly production from the largest field at Wytch Farm. This cut the UK’s total monthly onshore oil volumes by more than half.
Key figures
Daily production: Oil: 6,175 barrels per day (bopd). Gas: 8 standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d)
Volume: Oil: 29,449m3. Gas: 6,742 thousand cubic meters (ksm3)
Weight: Oil: 24,561 tonnes. Gas: 5,331 tonnes.
Onshore contribution to UK total production: 0.88% of oil and 0.69 % of gas
Volume of flared gas at UK onshore oilfields: 1,198ksm3
Volume of vented gas at UK onshore oilfields: 121ksm3
The data in this post was compiled and published by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) from reports by oil companies. This is published about three months in arrears. All the charts are based on the NSTA data.
Details
Daily production
- Daily production of onshore oil fell 50% in April 2023 to 6,175 bopd, compared with 12,359 in March 2023
- This was the second successive monthly fall in the daily oil production rate after eight months above 14,000 bopd
- According to the data, April 2023 saw the lowest daily oil production rate since January 2011
- See Oil top 20 for more details about what happened to oil production at Wytch Farm in April 2023
- Reported daily onshore gas production remained at 8mmscf/d for the second month, after five months at 9mmscf/d
Volume and weight
- Onshore oil volume and weight in April 2023 were less than half that reported in March 2023, down from 60,908m3/50,358 tonnes to 29,449m3/24,561 tonnes
- April 2023 was in the lowest 85 monthly totals for oil production in the 533 monthly reports since records were first published in March 1979
- April 2023 saw the fourth consecutive fall in oil production volume and weight
- Onshore gas production dropped 17% in April 2023, to 5,331 tonnes, compared with 6,409 tonnes in March 2023
- April 2023 was the lowest volume for seven months
- The fall in production was more than would have been expected by the shorter month in April
Contribution to UK production
- With April’s sharp fall in monthly oil production (see above), the onshore contribution to the UK monthly total fell from 1.72% in March 2023 to 0.88%
- The contribution of onshore gas to the UK total also fell
- It was down from 0.87% in March 2023 to 0.69% in April 2023
- The figure for April 2023 was the lowest for seven months, when production resumed at Saltfleetby in Lincolnshire
Flaring and venting
- The volume of gas flared from UK onshore oil fields fell by more than 5% in April 2023, compared with the month before
- But the April volume of flared gas (1,198 ksm) was still the second highest monthly figure in the past year
- Vented gas volumes in April 2023 were down more than 10% on March 2023
- But the monthly volume, at 121 ksm, was still in the highest six months for the previous year
Top producing fields
Oil top 20
Ranking risers: Stockbridge, Long Clawson, Scampton North, Gainsborough, Cold Hanworth, Beckingham, Bletchingley, Corringham, Kimmeridge, Storrington and Keddington.
Ranking fallers: Singleton, Horndean, Horse Hill, Whisby
Wytch Farm, Dorset
- The UK’s biggest onshore field saw volume fall by 66% from 44,871m3 in March 2023 to 15,128m3 in April
- Daily production fell by a similar percentage, from 9,104 bopd to 3,172 bopd
- The fall is likely to be because of a shutdown following a major incident when a pipeline from the field leaked into Poole Harbour on 26 March 2023
- As a result of the reduced production, Wytch Farm’s contribution to onshore oil fell from 73% in March 2023 to 50% in April
- The monthly loss in production in April compared with March 2023 could have cost the operator, Perenco, nearly $14m, based on an oil price in April 2023 of $78 a barrel
- There was no production reported in April 2023 at Wytch Farm’s neighbouring oilfield at Wareham, also operated by Perenco
Other oil fields
The newest onshore oil producer in the UK, Wressle, in North Lincolnshire, saw production fall in April 2023 to 3,675m3/3,050 tonnes from 3,794m3/3,149 tonnes in the previous month. This probably reflected the shorter month in April. Because of falling production at Wytch Farm, Wressle’s contribution to UK onshore oil rose from more than 6% in March 2023 to more than 12% in April 2023.
Production at Singleton, in West Sussex, fell by nearly a third, from 1,864m3/1,553 tonnes in March 2023 to 1,280m3/1,066 tonnes in April 2023.
Production also fell at Horse Hill, in Surrey. It was down 19% from 272m3/230 tonnes in March 2023 to 219m3/185 tonnes in April 2023. The field dropped another place in the rankings from 16 to 17. April 2023 was the lowest monthly total since production began at Horse Hill in March 2020, apart from July 2022. (A statement to investors in August 2022 reported that a new pump had recently been installed.)
Gas top 9
Ranking risers: Albury, Bilsthorpe Colliery Mine Vent, Stillingfleet Coal Mine Vent, Wheldale Coal Mine Vent, Cadeby Coal Mine Vent, Prince of Wales Coal Mine Vent, Markham Main Coal Mine Vent
Ranking fallers: Maltby Coal Mine Vent
- Monthly gas volume and weight at Saltfleetby in Lincolnshire was down slightly, from 4,048ksm/3412 tonnes in March 2023 to 3,997ksm/3,365 tonnes in April 2023
- Albury in Surrey, also saw production fall slightly but the field rose in the rankings from 3 to 2
- The total number of producing gas fields fell from 14 in March 2023 to 9 in April 2023 because of no production at Hatfield Moors and coal mine vents at Warsop Main, Mansfield, Newmarket and Askern
Non-producers
Oil
There was no production at 14 UK onshore oil fields in April 2023. This was the same number as in March 2023. But one field moved from production to non-production and another moved in the opposite direction.
Keddington, which produced no oil in March 2023, produced 112 tonnes in April 2023. But Wareham, ranked 7th in March 2023 with 675 tonnes, produced no oil in April 2023.
The non-producing fields were:
- Angus Energy: Lidsey, Brockham
- Britnrg Limited: Newton-on-Trent
- Egdon Resources: Dukes Wood, Fiskerton Airfield, Kirklington, Waddock Cross
- IGas: Avington, Egmanton, Nettleham, Palmers Wood, Scampton, South Leverton
- Perenco: Wareham
Gas
There was no production reported at 20 UK onshore producing gas fields in April 2023.
- Cuadrilla: Elswick
- Egdon Resources: Kirkleatham
- EP UK Investments: Humbly Grove Gas Storage
- Ineos: Airth, Doe Green
- Infinis Energy: coal mine vents at Askern, Bevercotes, Florence, Gedling, Kings Mill Hospital, Mansfield, Newmarket, Sherwood, Warsop Main
- Scottish Power UK plc: Hatfield Moor, Hatfield Moor Gas Storage Injection
- Third Energy: Kirby Misperton, Malton, Marishes, Pickering
Operators
Oil
Perenco, the operator of Wytch Farm and Wareham, saw its production fall to 12,572 tonnes, down from 37,608 tonnes in March 2023. The company’s share of UK production fell to 51%, down from more than 74% the month before.
This pushed up the share of other operators, particularly IGas plc (up to 30% from 16%), the Wressle operator, Egdon Resources (up from 6.25% to nearly 13%) and EP UK Investments (up from 1.69% to 3.23%).
Gas
Infinis Energy, operator of UK coal mine vents, saw its production fall from 2,102 tonnes in March 2023 to 1,093 tonnes in April 2023. This was probably because nine of its fields reported no production.
As a result, Angus Energy’s monthly share of UK onshore gas rose from more than 53% in March 2023 to more than 63%, despite slightly lower monthly production.
The share of onshore gas production also rose at IGas plc and Velox Power.
2022-3 onshore oil data archive
August 2022 – see note about revised data
July 2022 – see note about revised data
DRILL OR DROP? 
I expect the oil spill may have been responsible for the lack of production. Can’t remember for how long it went on for.
Well it was clearly visible on the inner harbour shorelines, I am a frequent walker and swimmer there, but quite frankly I am not swimming in the harbour again. I have no confidence that oil spills will not be hidden away that are smaller. We should not be extracting oil. It contributes to global warming.