1.Добыча и переработка нефти - Oil production and refining

The North Sea oil industry originated in 1859, when the first commercial oil was produced in Witz near Hanover. But until the middle of the 20th century, everything was limited to the discovery and development of small deposits.

There are 133 known oil fields in the British sector of the North Sea with proven reserves of 2 billion tons and recoverable reserves of 0.7 billion tons, which is about 1/3 of the shelf reserves. Oil production in the North Sea has been conducted since 1975[1] at fifty fields, of which the largest are Brent and Fortis. In 2003 It amounted to 106 million tons, of which more than half were exported— mainly to the USA, Germany, and the Netherlands. Through a system of pipelines and tankers, oil from the fields of the North Sea and the North Atlantic enters the Sallom-Vo oil terminal, where it is loaded into tankers for further transportation[2]. There are also large oil imports (up to 50 million tons), which is due to the predominance of light fractions in North Sea oil and the technological features of British refineries designed for heavier oil.

As for the British oil refining industry, it is still dependent on imports of crude oil and petroleum products. There are 9 refineries in the country with a total capacity of about 90 million tons per year (in 1999, the Shell Haven refinery with a capacity of 4.3 million tons per year was closed). They are located in the Thames estuary, in Foley near Southampton, in South Wales, by the Manchester Canal, in Teesside, Humberside and in Scotland (Grangemouth).

Sullom Voe Terminal is an oil terminal in the northern part of the island of Mainland in the archipelago of the Shetland Islands, Scotland.The terminal is located off the eastern shore of Sallom-Vo Bay (ending with -vo, English -voe on the islands means "narrow bay") in the Strait of Yell Sound. Brent (English Brent Crude, Brent Blend, London Brent) is a reference grade of oil produced in the North Sea. Since 2007, it has actually been a mixture of several grades of oil produced at the Brent, Forties, Oseberg and Ekofisk offshore fields between the coasts of Norway and the United Kingdom. It is one of the main oil brands traded on international oil exchanges, in particular on ICE.The price of Brent oil has been the basis for pricing many other types of oil since the 1980s. At the beginning of the 2010s, prices for 70% of all global oil grades were directly or indirectly determined by the prices of the Brent blend[2]. In particular, prices for three of the five Russian export brands, Urals, Siberian Light and REBCO, are calculated based on Brent prices.

2.Gas

Mass commercial gas production began in 1965. After that, gas became the main source of energy in the country, replacing coal and other minerals.

Stages of development

Development of North Sea deposits. For example:

• The West Sol field is the first commercial field on the UK continental shelf, gas production began in 1967.

• The Fortis field was discovered in 1970 and is considered the largest field in the North Sea.

• Reforms of the gas industry in the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s. For example:

• Privatisation of the capacities of the British Gas state monopoly in 1985.

• The company was broken up into independent functional divisions, which made it possible to segment the gas industry and make it more flexible.

• Reduction of own gas production in the North Sea since the 80s of the XX century. The UK imported more and more gas via pipelines from Norway and Europe, and also bought liquefied natural gas (LNG - СПГ) from the Middle East, mainly Qatar.

3.Coal

Coal production in the UK has declined due to environmental concerns and competition from other energy sources. According to data for 2024, the volume of coal production in the country is 107 thousand tons.

The main coal basins are the Yorkshire Basin in the southeast, the Northumberland basin in the northeast of the Pennines, and the South Wales basin on the southern slope of the Cambrian Mountains.

In the 19th century, coal mining increased dramatically as the industrial revolution gained momentum, as a fuel for steam engines. A key achievement was the invention of coke at the beginning of the 18th century, which could be used to produce pig iron in a blast furnace.

Before the First World War (1914-1918), the British coal industry reached its peak when the country had 3,270 mines with a total annual production of 292 million tons of coal.

After the war, the numbers began to decline, and the mines began to close one by one. From 1960 to 1970, the number of mines decreased from 698 to 292.

By the end of the 1970s, the volume of coal produced in England accounted for about 50% of the total production in Western Europe.

In 1984, an economic crisis began in the country, which forced the National Coal Board to develop a plan to close a number of unprofitable mines.

In 2003, there were only 10 coal mines and 64 open-cast coal mines in the UK, with a total production volume of 28.3 million tons.