In 1965 petroleum production in western Europe increased only 3% over 1964, to a rate of 396,560 b/d. Small increases in most of the countries were offset by a decline in Italy, where the production rate from Sicilian oil fields was cut back as a conservation measure. Natural gas production in The Netherlands increased by 150% to a rate of 176 MMCFD as market outlets for Groningen gas were developed, and German dry gas production rose 52.4% to 215 MMCFD. Gas production in Austria France, and Italy was practically unchanged from 1964. Prospects for increasing gas reserves in France were improved by completion of a large gas-discovery well below 16,000 ft. in the Aquitaine basin, and in Italy the decline of reserves of onshore gas fields in the Po valley was offset by incre sed reserves in fields being developed on the trend of the Po basin offshore in the Adriatic Sea. The first offshore gas field in Italy, Ravenna Mare, was put on production. In the North Sea, 13 wells were completed in British and German waters. At the end of the year an apparently commercial gas discovery was made 35 mi. off the English coast. Several wells off Germany had large flows of gas, but with a high percentage of nitrogen. Norway issued petroleum regulations and awarded hydrocarbon rights to 9 companies covering 78 offshore blocks in the North Sea, with an average size of 210 sq. mi. The United Kingdom granted additional offshore areas of about 10,000 sq. mi., including 500 sq. mi. in the Irish Sea. Dutch offshore petroleum legislation was still not enacted. Offshore boundaries of the North Sea nations were fixed by mutual agreements except for the greater part of the boundaries between Germany and its neighbors. In The Netherlands there was active onshore drilling by various companies in anticipation of award of concessions, and 17 of 40 exploratory and extension wells found gas. At the end of 1965 the Dutch government closed the non-concession areas to further drilling. A new drilling depth record for Europe was made by a well in southern France, drilled to 20,205 ft. In Germany exploratory drilling was directed primarily toward the finding of gas in Lower Triassic to Upper Carboniferous reservoirs in the Northwest German basin, and 3 gas discoveries were made. The Ayoluengo oil field of northern Spain was successfully extended and developed, but Stin had not been placed on commercial production. Attempts to extend the 1964 gas discovery in Switzerland were unsuccessful. The northernmost deep test for oil in the world was commenced in Spitsbergen. In the Soviet Union, oil production increased 9% to a rate of 4,660,000 b/d and gas production was up 17% to 12.5 BCFD. Some of the large oil and gas fields found in recent years in new producing regions of the U.S.S.R. were linked to consuming areas by pipelines. The first discovery of oil and gas in Latvia, near the Baltic coast, was announced. Offshore drilling in the Caspian Sea was accelerated, and the first self-elevating drilling platform in the Soviet Union was under construction. In the east European Communist countries, production of oil remained relatively unchanged, but that of gas incre sed considerably in Romania, Hungary, and Poland.