The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) yesterday released its December energy statistics that allow a provisional assessment to be made of trends in energy production, transformation and consumption in 2013.
“Primary energy production fell by 6.7 per cent on a year earlier to 113.9 million tonnes of oil equivalent. This decrease was due to falls in fossil fuel extraction, with coal output down 24 per cent as a result of the closure of a number of mines in 2013; oil and gas were down 8.8 and 7.3 per cent respectively in line with the long term trend. This follows the sharp falls in UK Continental Shelf output of 13.4 and 10.7 per cent in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
“Low carbon energy production grew, with wind generation from major power producers up by 38 per cent largely reflecting additional capacity,” the report reads.
A more detailed analysis will be available in DECC’s Energy Trends publication, published on March 27th.
Press release, February 28, 2014; Image: GE