Output slowed as the region revealed more evidence of its maturing fields, with figures from the Royal Bank of Scotland showing that combined oil and gas was down 13.5 per cent on the period in 2004.
Some 34 billion barrels of oil have been recovered from the North Sea since the first output 30 years ago, and the latest forecasts estimate future reserves at 28 billion barrels.
But RBS economist Tony Wood said investment in the North Sea had "improved significantly" - a trend he expects to be increasingly robust.
The UK Offshore Operators Association has said that increased spend could half production decline to 7 per cent per year - extending the life of the North Sea. Investment has been put at GBP 4.31 billion for 2005.
What do fifty years of failed fusion research, today's avant-garde believers in the Singularity, and the antics of the characters in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" have in common? The answer lies in information, which forms -- along with energy and matter -- a triad of principles that...
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