Onshore oil
The highest production was September 1943, when 10,049 tons produced, or 335 tons per day. This record would be next exceeded in March 1963, when 10,478 tons, or 338 tons per day were produced.[2]
In 1958, it produced 80,000 tons, with oil, in the 1950s, taken to Pumpherston in Scotland. For the north Nottinghamshire oil fields, and some in Leicestershire in the 1950s, oil was taken by road tanker to Tuxford North railway station, then by train to Uphall railway station in West Lothian.[3][4] The closing of railway stations, in the 1960s, would consequently affect the transportation of oil.
In 1960 it produced 85,000 tons, and in 106,000 tons in 1961.[5] In 1964 the East Midlands fields produced 127,491 tons, and in 1974, the East Midlands produced 80,000 tonnes.[6]
But in 1979, the North Sea produced 76 million tonnes. If production was less than 250,000 tonnes per six months, no Petroleum Revenue Tax was applied.[7]
By 1967 Dorset was producing 10,000 tons per year.[8] Wytch Farm was discovered in 1973 by the Gas Council, on the Isle of Purbeck directly south of Poole, at 3,000 to 4,000 ft depth,[9] with production from May 1979.[10] But, importantly, only after further geophysical exploration in December 1977, did anyone realise how huge the oil field was, when drilling took place at 5,000 ft.[11][12]
This discovery made companies look much more for onshore oil. But subsequently nothing was anything remotely as enormous as Wytch Farm. The oil, from Dorset, was taken by train to South Wales.
In 1980, UK onshore oilfields produced 240,000 tonnes of oil, mostly from Wytch Farm. This had doubled from the year before.[13]
Until 1990, relatively little oil was produced by UK onshore oil industry. This rapidly increased to peak between 1991 and 1999, where around 5 million tonnes of oil was produced each year – 5.4 million tonnes, the most, was produced in 1996. Since 1999 it has gradually declined to around 1 million tonnes a year. Onshore UK natural gas peaked in 2001. Cumulatively, onshore oil production has produced around 2% (around 500000000 oilbbl) of offshore (North Sea) production. The Wytch Farm oil field in Dorset, the largest onshore oilfield in Europe and run by BP, has reserves on its own of around 500000000 oilbbl of oil. The East Midlands Province provides 11% of UK onshore oil, 65% of the total excluding Wytch farm. So far, the Province has provided around 6 million tonnes of oil. In total, the UK has around 15 million tonnes of onshore oil left.
Planning permission for drilling was much quicker in Lincolnshire than in Hampshire and Dorset.
Although onshore oil reserves are much less, it costs much less to find and develop onshore oil. Depleted onshore oilfields at Gainsborough and Welton will be used for gas storage, of which the UK has little allocated reserves. The UK has reserves of 12 days of gas, compared to 91 days in France and 77 days in Germany.
