A healthy future is in store for new UK offshore oil projects in the pipeline, according to analysts. A team at consultancy Wood Mackenzie says that 50 fields, containing over two billion barrels of oil equivalent, are looking likely to get permission for development.

However the number of successful projects in the area will be hard to maintain, says Lead Analyst Lindsay Wexelstein: “While we expect the number of fields progressing towards development sanction to stay high, overall reserves will decline due to the rising number of smaller fields being developed.”