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BRITAIN: Oil and gas giant
Page 37
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Britain's North Sea oil and gas industry is colossal. It hvarves the production of every other European Union ;tate. In 2001 the UK produced 2.2 million barrels of crude oil day. By comparison, Germany produced 47.900 barrels a lay and the Netherlands 15,800 a day (ironic, then, that UK iauliers pay such exorbitant prices for their diesel). In fact. Ne produce so much of the black stuff that we export it3ritain is the only significant oil exporter in the EU.
British North Sea oil is in decline, but the UK Pilot protramme, which is made up of government and industry axperts, Is seeking methods of developing new fields.
Gas production In the North Sea Is rising and, again, the UK's statistics are impressive. In 1999 a staggering 100 billion cubic metres of North Sea gas was produced by Britain, ximpared with 20 billion by Germany. All this activity means that oil rigs, and drill and production platforms have to be built and maintained. Bruce Chisholm (pictured right), company secretary of Aberdeen-based haulier Ashley Industries, is at the sharp end of all this activity. Aberdeen is the nucleus of the British North Sea oil and gas industry; production platform-bound helicopters leave Aberdeen Airport, within view of Chisholm's office, on a regular basis.
The British North Sea oil and gas sector alone contains 100 production platforms, and this is without the mass of oil rigs and drilling platforms. These structures are huge, so they equate to a lot of HGV movements for firms like Ashley Industries. Chisholm says: -Basically we carry anything that the oil firms want us to. It could be paint, shotblasting grit, insulation, plant scaffolding or diving equipment.
The platforms vary in size, but to give you some idea of how big they are, imagine Nelson's column with a 10-storey building on top of It. Then you've got to add the accommodation blocks and the height of the derrick on top."
Ashley Industries trucks pick up components from a variety of places around the UK; the parts are brought to Tyneside or Scotland, where oil rigs and platforms are assembled. And what about rates? "They have improved over the last few years," Chisholm reports.