Lack of important onshore oil discoveries in recent years in the older onshore producing basins of Europe led to a decline of oil production, which will be reversed as large new fields in the North Sea and the Mediterranean go on production. The first North Sea oil was shipped from the Norwegian Ekofisk field. Gas production increased sharply in The Netherlands, the British North Sea area, and Germany. The most important exploration results in 1971 were in the northern part of the North Sea basin. The importance of 3 single-well oil discoveries of 1969 and 1970 in British waters was confirmed by drilling of extension wells. There was a probable oil discovery northeast of the Shetland Islands on the British side of the median line, and an important gas discovery was made e st of the Shetlands on the Norwegian side. Two oil fields were found in Danish waters. The first of a new round of license awards was made in the British area, with a block north of 62°N lat. bringing a bonus bid of more than $50 million. A gas discovery was made off the south coast of Ireland. Exploration declined in France but applications were made for large new permit areas on the continental shelves. There were 5 gas discoveries in Germany. In Italy there were 4 gas discoveries, one of them offshore in the Ionian Sea. There was a second oil discovery in the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain. The first offshore well was drilled in Maltese waters.

In the Soviet Union production of oil rose to 7,420,000 b/d and of gas to nearly 20.5 Bcf/d. Work continued on construction of large-diameter pipelines to transport gas from the northern West Siberian basin to Ural industrial centers and to provide additional outlets for oil from the large fields of the central part of that basin. Large extensions of the Shekhitli field greatly increased the reserves, and it is now the largest gas field of middle Asia. The first important oil discovery on the Baltic coast of Poland was made on an island in Stettin Bay. A new depth record for Europe was set by a well in East Germany which drilled to 23,049 ft.