Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Crude Oil and Natural Gas Liquids Country Note

Denmark's proved recoverable reserves are the fourth largest in Europe (excluding the Russian Federation). The Danish Energy Authority (DEA) does not employ the terms 'proved' and 'additional' reserves, but uses the categories 'ongoing', 'approved', 'planned' and 'possible' recovery. The figure for proved reserves (203 million m³ or 1 277 million barrels) reported by the DEA to the Danish WEC Member Committee has been calculated as the sum of 'ongoing' and 'approved' reserves, while the figure for additional reserves has been calculated as the sum of 7 million m³ 'planned' reserves and 47 million m³ 'possible' reserves. The reserve numbers are the expected values in each category.

All the oil fields discovered so far are located in the North Sea. Out of 23 fields or areas with reserves in the ongoing/approved category, four (Dan, Gorm, Halfdan and South Arne) account for 83% of the total volume.

Assuming an average future recovery factor of 24%, the proved amount in place corresponding to the ongoing/approved reserves of 203 million m³ is 846 million m³ (approximately 5.3 billion barrels); beyond these quantities is an estimated additional amount in place of 146 million m3 (918 million barrels), of which 54 million m³ (340 million barrels) is deemed to be recoverable.

The principal fields in production in 2005 were Halfdan, Dan, South Arne, Gorm and Skjold, which together accounted for 80% of national oil output. About three-quarters of Danish crude is exported, chiefly to other countries in Western Europe.