North Sea oil production rose to more than 1,700,000 b/d in December 1978 as new fields went on production in the British sector and other fields attained their maximum producing rates. Elsewhere in western and southern Europe there were modest increases in oil production, except in Germany where decline continued. Gas production leveled in The Netherlands but increased in other producing countries. Exploratory drilling declined in the North Sea, as most of the promising licensed areas had been evaluated in previous years and companies concentrated on delineation and development of earlier discoveries. An apparently large field was found in northern Norwegian waters near the Statfjord field. A well in the Porcupine basin, in deep water of the Atlantic Ocean west of Irelan , tested oil. Small oil and gas discoveries were made in Austria and France. In Germany, oil was found off the Baltic coast and there were 4 gas discoveries onshore. In Italy, exploration of stratigraphic trap prospects in the Po Valley were remarkably successful. Oil and gas were found off the coast of southern Sicily. A significant gas discovery was made off southwestern Spain and there were 2 oil finds in the western Mediterranean.

In the Soviet Union, average production of crude oil and condensate was 11,450,000 b/d, and daily gas production averaged 36.85 Bcf. Oil production increased in the West Siberian basin, mostly from the Samotlor field, but it declined in most other producing regions owing to depletion of some of the principal older fields. Production from the giant Urengoi gas field of northwestern Siberia began. No major oil or gas discoveries in the Soviet Union were announced in 1978, and the yield from new fields connected to pipeline was disappointingly small. The importance of an increased exploration effort was emphasized.