This is a question people often ask themselves. How much will it cost to fill my car? How much will it cost to heat my home?
But are there more hidden costs to the British citizen other than just
the cash they hand over to oil companies, gas providers and electricity
generators?
British North Sea oil output has declined steadily since 1999.
This, accentuated by the sharp rise in global crude prices, is now
taking a big chunk out of Gordon Brown's budget. That missing chunk has
to be met by the UK taxpayer.
Gordon Brown recently called on the eleven nations of OPEC to increase their supply capacity.
However, as OPEC was quick to point out the biggest fall in production
by any major producer since 1999 is not an OPEC nation. It is the UK.
Steady decline
"Maybe politicians have just come to realise the situation," says Mike
Wittner, global head of energy market research at Calyon Bank.
"But markets are not really surprised. UK oil production has been declining for several years."
The rate of decline has ranged from 6% to 17%, year-on-year.
Experts say this is not surprising.
"It is because the way offshore fields are developed, [which is] all in
one go and produced as fast as possible, for economic reasons," says Dr
Michael Smith, head of research analysts EnergyFiles.
"When they start to decline, they do so fairly rapidly. All these big
fields came on stream roughly at the same time so they have all tended
to reach their maximum at the same time, then combining to decline."
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Complete article BBC
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