The North Sea is famous as one of Europe's top crude production sites, with the UK and Norway accounting for about 80% of the region's output. Unfortunately, the North Sea has already entered a phase of terminal decline. Last year, the oil basin produced 34 m tonnes of oil, its lowest since production was established in the 1970s. Scores of Big Oil companies have been pulling out of the aging oil basin, with production expected to continue shrinking despite the UK government recently issuing a raft of licenses. Meanwhile, other producers are scaling…
