Available online
Description
The programme uses interviews with three people connected with oil business to try to answer the question, "How much oil is there in the North Sea?" The interviews are interspersed with ...shots of North Sea oil rigs, tankers and supply vessels.
The programme uses interviews with three people connected with oil business to try to answer the question, "How much oil is there in the North Sea?" The interviews are interspersed with ...shots of North Sea oil rigs, tankers and supply vessels.
| Module code and title: | T101, Living with technology: a foundation course |
|---|---|
| Item code: | T101; 09 |
| First transmission date: | 01-06-1980 |
| Published: | 1980 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:00 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Colin Robinson |
| Contributors: | Philip Caudill; Chris Rowland |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Ekofisk oil field; Gas; Government attitude to oil companies; North Sea; Oil; Oil Economics; Oil rig; Oil tax; Petroleum; Seismic survey |
| Footage description: | John Naughton, in the studio, introduces the programme. Film shots of an oil rig supply vessel at sea and of work on board an oil exploration rig. Commentary by Philip Caudill and Bill Mayon-White relates how oil was discovered under the North Sea. Caudill, together with Chris Rowland and Colin Wall then go on to discuss the risks faced by oil companies that their extraction would not cover their production costs. Colin Wall explains in more detail one of the risk factors brought out above; that of geological uncertainty as to how much oil there is at any given location. He describes the techniques used by oil companies to come up with estimates. Chris Rowland, Colin Wall and Philip Caudill each in turn discuss the economic variables taken into account by oil companies when making decisions on whether or not to develop an oil field. Bill Mayon-White and Colin Wall examine the technology variables at work when deciding how much oil can be extracted from the North sea. Bill Mayon-White, Chris Rowland, Colin Wall and Philip Caudill each gives his own view on the effect of the political variable on oil exploration and exploitation in the North sea. They discuss such things as the effect of legislation and taxation on the oil companies' willingness to produce oil. Colin Wall relates a specific example of the effect of government involvement with the oil companies, in this case the extraction of North Sea gas. Bill Mayon-White and the other contributors sum up the variables involved when a decision on how much oil can be obtained from the North Sea is made. |
| Master spool number: | OU3271 |
| Production number: | FOUT042W |
| Videofinder number: | 2198 |
| Available to public: | no |
