Sky News Today

The broadcast visited the Britannia platform in the North Sea, where 128 workers were on board during the visit and crews work 12-hour shifts for two or three weeks at a time. It reported that gas is drawn from about 15,000 feet below the seabed and processed on the platform. Britannia first produced in 1998 and sits on the largest gas condensate reservoir discovered in the North Sea; it once supplied around 10% of UK gas demand or domestic production and now produces around 4-5% of domestic gas production. The report traced the wider North Sea story from 1960s gas discoveries and the Brent field, discovered in 1971 and used as a global oil benchmark, to a 1999 peak of 4.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.

It then reported from the Isle of Grain, described as Europe's biggest LNG terminal, where LNG is stored at minus 162 degrees and shipped from sources including the United States, Qatar, Algeria, Trinidad, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Russia. The broadcast said the UK imports about 55% of its gas and 20% of its electricity, while UK North Sea output has fallen to 1.1 million barrels of oil and gas, down 75% from the peaks in 2000. It examined the policy debate around Rosebank and Jackdaw, whose approvals were revoked after a legal challenge by environmental campaigners, and set out industry, analyst and campaigner positions on further drilling, tax and regulation.

The report looked at tiebacks, including the Callanish field 15 miles from Britannia, and followed gas to St Fergus in Scotland, where about 40% of UK gas needs were landing on the day of filming. It contrasted the UK with Norway, which it said has stable rules and remains Europe's top gas supplier. It also covered concerns over low gas storage, with seven and a half days of peak demand capacity and Rough providing half of that but empty, and arguments that more renewables and lower gas consumption would improve energy security. Workers and companies were reported as seeking stability, with investment going to the US and the Norwegian side of the North Sea; the broadcast concluded the North Sea is at a crossroads.