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
| 09 Oct 24 |
UK: OEUK CEO provides key insights at the Great British Energy Bill committee Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) Chief Executive, David Whitehouse, recently presented evidence to the Great British Energy Bill committee, emphasizing the strength of the UK’s energy sector and its potential for future growth. |
| 09 Oct 24 |
UK: NSTA acts to smooth the path of North Sea deals Multi-million-pound transactions will be helped to complete more smoothly following the publication of new guidance from the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA). |
| 08 Oct 24 |
UK: Mocean Energy and Proserv partner to accelerate decarbonisation of offshore energy Scottish ocean energy pioneers Mocean Energy and Aberdeen-headquartered leading global controls technology specialists Proserv have signed a working partnership agreement with the aim of accelerating the development of renewables solutions for subsea operations. |
| 07 Oct 24 |
UK: Lakeside energises to become UK’s largest transmission-connected battery energy storage system Global clean energy enterprise TagEnergy’s Lakeside battery energy storage system (BESS) is now the largest transmission-connected BESS project in the UK following energisation. |
| 07 Oct 24 |
UK: OEUK releases CCUS Insight report following £22bn government funding for new projects Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) says today’s confirmation of £22bn of funding over 25 years can help kickstart the UK’s Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) sector starting with the deployment of the Hynet cluster in Merseyside and the East Coast Cluster in Teeside and Humberside, known as Track-1 clusters. |
United Kingdom - more news
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