Petroleum production in western Europe increased 7.8% over 1962, to a rate of 358,663 b/d. Gas reserves of the Groningen area of the northeastern Netherlands were recalculated at 39 trillion cu. ft. after completion of a well near the German frontier. Germany took credit for its anticipated share of the field and, chiefly because of this, revised the recoverable gas reserves of the country upward by 181.3%. German oil production increased 8.9% and gas production by 48.4%, the latter as a result of opening new market outlets. Oil production in France increased by 16% and in Austria by 9.5%. In Italy oil production continued to decline, but the completion of a petrochemical plant in the Gela field will reverse this trend in 1964. The outstanding exploration event of 1963 wa the increase in exploration in the North Sea where many companies, operating separately and in various combinations, covered most of the sea by reconnaissance seismic surveys. An aeromagnetic survey of most of the sea was carried out, with 10 to 15 participants. No progress was made in settling the problem of international boundaries in the sea, and laws to govern offshore operations were still in the drafting stage in the bordering countries. In Austria a deep gas discovery was made in the Vienna basin and another Cretaceous oil discovery in the Molasse basin. In France there were no significant discoveries, but attention was directed toward offshore exploration in the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean. In Germany, 5 apparently important gas finds were made in Lower Triassic sands. I Italy several apparently minor gas discoveries, one offshore, and one oil discovery were made. Exploratory drilling continued in Switzerland and Spain, with hydrocarbon shows but no commercial success, was curtailed in Greece after an active campaign in 1962-1963, and ceased before the end of the year in Eire, Portugal, and European Turkey. In Belgium, Denmark, Spitsbergen and Sweden geophysical work was carried out. Various American and Canadian companies were active in acquiring prospecting licenses in the United Kingdom, and by the end of 1963 most of the areas of undisturbed sedimentary rocks of the U. K. not already allocated were taken up, including the continental shelf out to the 3-mile limit and a large part of northern Ireland. By contrast with previous recent years, there wer few reports of important new hydrocarbon discoveries in the U.S.S.R., and reports published in Russia were critical of the lag in exploration. Most of the news from the country was centered on pipe line construction, but of the major pipe lines under construction only that from the Gasli gas field of Uzbekistan to the Urals was completed for the first 1,235 miles to Chelyabinsk. The projected 23,000-ft. well in the pre-Caspian depression, heralded as a precursor of a well to the Moho, evidently failed to reach its objective depth. Oil production in the Soviet Union increased 11% to 3,567,000 b/d and gas production 22% to 9 billion cu. ft. per day. In Poland exploratory emphasis shifted to the deep basin in the northern part of the country, where the Permian is the chief objective. The d scovery of several new gas and oil fields was reported in Hungary, Bulgaria, and Albania.