Europe / Caspian / CIS
Country profile: United Kingdom
| Location: | Western Europe, islands including the northern one-sixth of the island of Ireland between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, northwest of France |
| Climate: | temperate; moderated by prevailing southwest winds over the North Atlantic Current; more than one-half of the days are overcast |
| Terrain: | mostly rugged hills and low mountains; level to rolling plains in east and southeast |
| Size: | 244820 sq. km total (Land area: 241590 sq. km Water area: 3230 sq.km) |
| Population: | 60,943,912 (July 2008 est.) |
| Languages: | English, Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland) |
| Government: | constitutional monarchy |
| Capital city: | London |
| Legal system: | based on common law tradition with early Roman and modern continental influences; has nonbinding judicial review of Acts of Parliament under the Human Rights Act of 1998; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations |
| Currency: | British pound (GBP) |
| Licensing: |
Country profile
The United Kingdom (UK) is an important political and economic power in Europe and the world. It has the second-largest economy in the European Union (EU) with a nominal 2005 gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.2 trillion. The UK economy grew by 1.8 percent in 2005, with growth of 2.2 percent forecasted for 2006. While the UK has been a member of the EU since 1973, it does not participate in the European single currency, the Euro. The UK is the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the EU.
However, after years of being a net exporter of both fuels, the UK became a net importer of natural gas in 2004. Government estimates also predict that the country will become a net importer of oil by the end of the decade. Production from UK oil and natural gas fields peaked in the late 1990s and has declined steadily over the past several years, as the discovery of new reserves has not kept pace with the maturation of existing fields. In response, the government has begun a three-pronged approach to address the predicted domestic shortfalls: 1) increasing domestic production through efficiency gains and the exploitation of marginal fields; 2) establishing necessary import infrastructure, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminals and transnational pipelines; and 3) investing in energy conservation and renewables.
Energy production and consumption
| Oil | Gas | |
| Production: | 1 million bbl/day (2005 est.) | 84 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
| Consumption: | 1 million bbl/day (2005 est.) | 91 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
| Exports: | 1 million bbl/day (2005 est.) | 8 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
| Imports: | 1 million bbl/day (2005 est.) | 15 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
| Reserves: | 4 billion bbl (1 January 2006 est.) | 509 |
| Major fields: |
United Kingdom - recent news
| 18 Sep 25 |
UK: Allseas awarded Brae Alpha decommissioning contract TAQA UK has awarded Allseas the contract for the engineering, preparation, removal and disposal (EPRD) of the Brae Alpha platform in the UK Central North Sea. |
| 18 Sep 25 |
UK: OnPath Energy moving forward with investment plans after posting £69.4m operating profit Leading renewables developer OnPath Energy is looking to expand its investment and operational presence across Great Britain after reporting a £69.4m operating profit in its latest annual accounts. |
| 17 Sep 25 |
UK: Hibiscus Petroleum commences drilling at Teal West Development Hibiscus Petroleum has announced that the Shelf Drilling Fortress jack-up rig, prepared and mobilised from Invergordon, Scotland on 8 September 2025. It has successfully been positioned at site and spudded a new well at the Teal West field on the 14 September 2025, located 4 km from the Anasuria Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading ('FPSO') facility. |
| 17 Sep 25 |
UK: Clean energy and jobs from publicly-owned Great British Energy Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has set out his vision for Great British Energy, detailing his expectations for how the UK’s publicly-owned clean power company will deliver on the government’s clean energy superpower mission – that will take back control of Britain’s energy supply to protect billpayers from global fossil fuel price spikes. |
| 16 Sep 25 |
UK: Hydrogen Milestone: UK’s first Hydrogen-to-Power trial at Brigg Energy Park Centrica and HiiROC, supported by the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC), have successfully demonstrated the injection of hydrogen into a gas-fired peak power plant at Centrica’s Brigg Energy Park, North Lincolnshire. The trial marks a UK first in using hydrogen to decarbonise peak power generation supplying power directly to the electricity grid. |
United Kingdom - more news
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