LONDON - British oil production continues to highlight the increasing maturity and depletion of North Sea fields in its sector by maintaining its rapid decline, according to the Royal Bank of Scotland.

In its latest monthly index, the bank reported Thursday that the combined daily average output for oil and gas production in November was down 7 percent on the month and 14 percent compared with a year ago. Oil production decreased by 125,000 barrel per day (bdp) to 1.5 million bpd compared with October and by 238,000 bpd compared with November 2004. The UK production of gas, which is also in decline, recorded similar falls of 7 percent on the month and 14 percent on the year. Oil and gas production from the North Sea has been in decline since 1999 with Britain expecting to become a net importer within the next five years, prompting Prime Minister Tony Blair's government to make energy security a foreign policy priority. The extra investment that has followed a surge in prices is expected to only slowdown the pace of the downward slide, being mainly directed in the greater use of technology to develop smaller fields previously considered to be uneconomical. The Scottish bank, which has the Kuwait Investment Office as a major shareholder, said that "North Sea fields are maturing rapidly and as a result the UK may become a net importer of crude oil earlier than the government is currently anticipating." "This trend may slow when the Buzzard field becomes operational at the end of this year, but even current high prices will be insufficient to stem the long-term depletion of North Sea fields," it warned. PIN/IRNA
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