據石油新聞2021年2月25日倫敦報道，英國商業、能源和工業戰略部（BEIS）2月25日公布的統計數據顯示，去年英國上游石油日產量驟降了7%至3年低點的103萬桶，而這個國家去年自2004年以來首次成為一個原油和天然氣液體的凈出口國。

盡管在運營商采取行動趕上第三季度的基本活動之前維護作業(特別是在上半年)的推遲可能支持了產量水平，去年英國上游石油產量的大幅下降被業內人士歸因于COVID-19對海上活動的限制。

在全部數據中，原油產量下降了8%，為92.9萬桶/天，其余9.6萬桶為天然氣液體。在第四季度回升之前，第三季度的產出大幅下降，同比下降了12%。

在很多情況下，石油生產商可能會因油價暴跌而減少產量，美國石油生產商阿帕奇公司表示，正是出于這個原因，它減少了產量。

英國石油產量最近一次下降是在2017年，當時達到了100萬桶/天，在過去的5年里，英國石油產量大多處于復蘇趨勢。

李峻 編譯自 石油新聞

原文如下：

UK upstream oil output plunges 7% to three-year low in 2020

UK oil production dropped 7% to a three-year low of 1.03 million b/d in 2020, while the country was a net exporter of crude and natural gas liquids for the first time since 2004, statistics from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, or BEIS, showed on Feb. 25.

The sharp drop in output has been attributed by the industry to restrictions on offshore activity due to COVID-19, although postponement of maintenance particularly in the first half may have supported production levels, before operators moved to catch up on essential activity in the third quarter.

Within the overall figure, crude oil production was down 8% at 929,000 b/d, with the remaining 96,000 b/d being NGLs. Output plunged particularly steeply in the third quarter, down 12% on the year, before picking up in the fourth quarter.

In some cases, production may have been reduced in response to the plunge in the oil prices operators could hope to attract, with US producer Apache saying it held back production for this reason.

UK oil output was last lower in 2017, when it hit 1 million b/d, having mostly been on a recovery trend over the last half-decade.