North Sea oil first came ashore in June 1975. Today there are over 300 active oil fields in North Sea.

A misconception is that the North Sea is running out of oil. It is thought there could be still be between 12 Billion barrels of oil and perhaps the higher estimate is 24 Billion barrels of oil.

So if there is between 12 and 24 Billion barrels left, what is the value of this black gold ?

12 Billion Barrels = 12000000000 Barrels.

24 Billion Barrels = 24000000000 Barrels.

Crude Oil is at $109.92 a barrel.

Thus if we have 12 Billion Barrels remaining, that is worth in today’s prices:-

$1,319,040,000,000.00 = $1319 Billion = £793 Billion

and if we have 24 Billion Barrels remaining, that is worth in today’s prices:-

$2,638,080,000,000.00 = $2638 Billion = £1587 Billion = £1.587 Trillion = over 100% of annual UK GDP.

The potential wealth of future North Sea Oil is huge, that is why it is a political football.