UK government publishes latest energy statistics

The UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has published its latest Digest of UK Energy Statistics 2018. Among its key findings, primary energy production rose in 2017, up 0.4% on a year earlier. The rise was driven by growth in output from wind, solar and hydro, and bioenergy and waste. Overall fossil fuel growth contracted, with coal output falling to a record low level.

Gross natural gas production was relatively stable on 2016, at 465 TWh, up 0.3%. Although recent years have seen modest increases in production, the long-term pattern is one of decline and 2017 production levels stood at under 40% of the peak in 2000.

Crude oil (including NGLs) production in 2017, at 46mn tonnes, decreased by 2% compared to 2016, despite the opening of new fields and development of older fields. Production is currently around a third of the UK’s peak in 1999.

The UK remained a net importer of energy at 36%, down marginally from 2016. For crude oil the key source was Norway, which accounted for 47% of imports. Indigenous use of crude fell more than a third on 2016 and to meet this shortfall in refinery demand, imports of primary oils increased by 9.4%. Norway was also the key source for gas, which accounted for three quarters of UK imports, with a further 5.6% from Belgium and 4% from The Netherlands. LNG accounted for 15% of gas imports, down from 23% in 2016, with 84% of these imports from Qatar.