AN Italian oil and gas giant has bucked the gloomy trend in the North Sea by reporting an increase in production in the UK.
While experts have warned that output is set to plunge in the UK following the sharp fall in oil prices, Eni highlighted the value of its interests in the country in its fourth quarter results.
The company said production increases in four countries including the UK more than offset declines in output from mature fields in its global portfolio.
Eni did not give details of UK production levels. However, it highlighted "major increases" in the production of liquids, such as oil and gas condensate, in the UK.
Last week Bank of America Merrill Lynch said the UK North Sea is especially vulnerable to the effect of the plunge in oil prices since June because too much production comes from old fields that are expensive to run.
The bank forecast firms will slash investment in the area.
Eni is renowned for its activities in countries such as Angola and Nigeria.
However, the company has remained active in the UK since 1964. It has stuck by the North Sea through previous oil price cycles.
On its website Eni says it has interests in 13 production areas in the UK, including the giant Elgin/Franklin development around 130 miles east of Aberdeen and fields in Liverpool Bay.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article