As early as 1859, oil was discovered in onshore areas around the North Sea and natural gas as early as 1910. The exploitation of the North Sea oil reserves began just before the 1973 oil crisis, and the climb of international oil prices made the large investments needed for extraction much more attractive. Although the production costs are relatively high, the quality of the oil, the political stability of the region, and the proximity of important markets in western Europe has made the North Sea an important oil producing region.
Fossil Fuel Availability is a static data layer representing general/rough indications of oil and gas fields as far as we know them.
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