And We Ask Again: Will Great Britain Be Better Prepared This Year? British Drilling In The North Sea Is Down 35% This Year

Updates

January 29, 2015: Scotland bans fracking.

January 25, 2015: committee of "influential" MPs recommends banning fracking. The BBC is reporting:

An influential committee of MPs has called for a moratorium on fracking on the grounds that it could derail efforts to tackle climate change.

The government's drive for shale gas should be put on hold because it would lead to more reliance on fossil fuels, the Environmental Audit Committee said.

The cross-party committee also warned there were "huge uncertainties" about the environmental impact of fracking.

Ministers said shale gas development did not detract from cutting emissions.

In their report, the MPs said shale fracking was incompatible with UK carbon targets and could pose environmental and health risks.

September 4, 2014: England anticipating blackouts this winter.

May 18, 2013: the UK will run out of natural gas in three years. 
 

Original Post

See this earlier post.

A colder winter is predicted this year. The earth stopped warming 17 years ago and it is clear we have entered a new cooling cycle. And now this report from Reuters via Rigzone:

The number of wells drilled in the British North Sea fell by more than a third in the third quarter, potentially raising further concerns about the region's outlook after a downgrade to production forecasts earlier this year.

During the three months to Sept. 31, the summer period which is traditionally Britain's busiest for drilling, 11 exploration and appraisal wells were started, 35 percent lower than the same period last year, a survey by Deloitte Petroleum services said on Tuesday. The number of wells drilled in the third quarter was also 31 percent lower than in the second quarter of 2013. Britain's oil and gas production from the North Sea has fallen by about two thirds since 2000 and posted particularly steep falls of 14.5 percent last year and 18 percent in 2011.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what this means for the natural gas industry.