North Sea strikes

Whose oil, whose gas? Leslie T. Minchin It is de hard to realise that, ten years ago, the rich NI Posits of oil and gas below the bed of the :rrh Sea were nothing but a pipedream. They i:re a scientific fantasy, a hope, but of little ediate importance. After all, the only ici!s,on for even anticipating such a bounty was cii:u a huge field of natural gas had been f.-70.evered in Holland and that this had been nr,nd in a layer of rock where such finds were `,normally expected. This certainly Iqc;InPted geologists to hope that under the

Sea, where similar strata were known to ,,ttlerre might be more gas fields, and even oil, "us was a matter for speculation.

ulp till that time Britain had been one of the ;us ea countries with practically no indigenor gas, looking enviously across to Lance, Holland and Italy. I wonder how many 'Pie in Britain realise what immense good krun ;litet e has fallen into our laps during these rvening years. How fortunate, too, that h_eri it occurred the bed of the sea had already 711 Parcelled out between the nations, so that ,sploitation could proceed with a minimum of ;1!,erriational friction. It was lucky for us too irnearly all the important discoveries took zoace in the British zone, or in the Norwegian /lie a few miles east of the dividing line. then, was the sea-bed divided up in the 4.."'"es by those wise negotiators? A line was 00aWn first, lying equidistant between Opposite triirpts; for instance, one such line ran up the bets,gle of the English Channel half way

'Ten Britain and the continent, then turned

tne North Sea to run midway between outa and Scandinavia. Then lines were drawn 411 ,irorn the coast at each frontier, at right iingies to the coast, until they met the dividing

Just mentioned. This was far from perfect,

it received general agreement, in spite of ge'n fact that those countries which have a lieue,..rallY convex coastline (such as Britain, tha„'id and Norway) received a better deal co" tnose (such as Belgium, or Germany) with it n. cave coastline. eau

gas had been located. But of course no one thought at the time of separating English and Scottish waters. Was Britain not a United Kingdom? The idea would have seemed absurd. Alas, the ten years or so that have seen our good fortune established — so that we have already achieved self-sufficiency in gas supplies and may well get to a similar state with oil by 1980 — have also seen the upsurge of separatist elements on the political scene. Nationalists now proclaim that 'Scottish oil' must benefit Scotland rather than England, Wales and Northern Ireland. I wonder whether the proponents of this Policy realise all the complications and diffiulties it must involve? I have seen, for instance, a boundary line drawn out into the sea from Berwick, running due east and parallel to the lines of latitude. But this is quite contrary to accepted procedure, and to the principles on which all the other countries have agreed to Operate . If we must divide Scottish waters off from English, then the line must clearly run out at right angles to the coast; and this means approximately north-east. Such a line might well leave the 'Forties' field — which the BP Company hopes to bring into operation either next year or the year after —iii Scotland, but

neighbouring g g . fields lying just south would be in the English zone. However, the business of drawing demarcation lines after the area has been explored is fraught with difficulty. for coastlines are not very susceptible to exact geometrical constructions, and more than one line can be drawn at right angles to a sea coast.

The gas fields of the North Sea which are at present being utilised lie east of Lincolnshire and Norfolk. Three large reception stations have been built on the east coast at which gas pipelines from the sea-bed come ashore. From them, after some initial purification and treatment, a pipeline network stretches out to Cornwall, to Pembroke, to Glasgow, supplying reliable fuel.

Here, with a very efficient and He oil Which it is p nicw e come toeto another problem. If all the will be won from the northern Part of the North Sea is to be called 'Scottish oil,' then we have to face the fact that Scotland has for years been relying almost exclusively on 'English gas.' They can't have it h'r?th ways. Perhaps the nationalists would be wiser. to moderate their claim, or they may find Englishmen demanding a special price for allowing their gas to cross the border. The gas production platforms in the North Sea were constructed under most difficult conditions — deep water, savage weather — and they must be accounted a triumph for the skill and perseverance of the oil companies' engineers. Some are thirty or forty miles off shore, others as much as twice that distance, and pipelines have been laid on the bed of the sea to bring the gas ashore. However, the climatic and laosi tt i nogf the the oceanographic opidrsobilyeimog north-east r tehx-pe

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Shetlands are incomparably greater. There the sea is deeper, waves may be 100 feet high, winds up to 150 mph, and the distance to landfall is over 200 miles, with a further 200 miles to be covered over land to reach industrial areas. The task is so formidable that it is difficult to say with any certainty when it will be completed or how much it will cost. During this time the world price of oil is likely to fall, as more and more exploration is carried out and more oilfields are discovered. Clearly, the ingenous notion that seems to be cherished in some political quarters — that 'Scottish oil' is a ripe

plum waiting to be picked — is likely to be dashed as reality breaks in.

Meanwhile, preparations are going ahead for the first oil from the northern sector to be brought to land. It will come from the BP Company's 'Forties' field by a pipeline reaching the coast north of Aberdeen. South of the border on Teesside they are preparing to receive oil from the Ekofisk field, which lies just inside Norwegian waters but cannot conveniently be piped to Norway. On the western seaboard of Britain trial boreholes have been drilled and some promising results have been obtained south of Cork. However, the whole of the Irish Sea up to Stranraer has been licensed for exploration, and we may well hear of discoveries in this area too.

The existence of these natural resources around our coasts seems to make an integrated, nation-wide approach most desirable. Indeed, it was primarily for this reason that the British Gas Corporation was formed, to administer the distribution and utilisation of gas over the whole of the United Kingdom, in place of the twelve regional Boards to which this task was formerly entrusted. For us now to carve up the sea-bed around our shores into areas reserved for the land which.happens to lie nearest seems a wholly retrograde step. If a valuable field is found below the Celtic Sea, are we to see North Devon and Pembroke squabbling as to which of them should have it? This is no more absurd than talk of 'Scottish oil' or 'English gas.' But perhaps before all these plans reach fruition, the fever of secessionism will have abated. Is it too much to hope for? I wonder how rational we can be.

Leslie Minchin, a chartered fuel technologist, is the author of Pipelines of the World and The Gas Industry