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March 19, 2018 - United Kingdom (UK) oil and natural gas production have grown on average almost 9% and 4% per year, respectively, from 2014 through 2016. Among European countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the UK was the second-largest producer of petroleum and other liquids in 2016; only Norway produced more. The UK was the third-largest producer of natural gas in OECD Europe, surpassed only by Norway and the Netherlands.
Coal production in the UK has generally been declining since the early 1900s, falling from 322 million short tons (MMst) in 1913 (the first year for which annual data are available) to a record low of 5 MMst in 2016.
Coal consumption in the UK peaked at 244 MMst in 1956, the year in which the UK enacted the Clean Air Act. The Clean Air Act—prompted by the great London smog of 1952—prohibited the emission of dark smoke from industrial buildings, private homes, and railroad locomotives. At the time, industrial coal use accounted for more than half of total UK coal consumption, and railroad and home use accounted for almost a quarter of total coal consumption. The remaining coal consumption was mainly in the electric sector where coal consumption did not peak until the 1980s at slightly less than 100 MMst. Coal consumption in 2016 was 20 MMst, two-thirds of which was used in the electric sector.
The UK had an estimated 77 MMst of recoverable coal reserves at the end of 2016, according to BP's Statistical Review of World Energy 2017. Deep coal mines had been operating in the UK since the 1800s, however the last deep coal mine in the UK closed in December 2015. Several surface mines remain in operation in the UK and are mainly located in central and northern England, south Wales, and central and southern Scotland.
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