All articles tagged with #north sea
Two giant bluefin tunas landed off Whitby represent the first North Sea market catches since licences were issued, hailed as a conservation success linked to careful fisheries management, with scientists noting warming seas may aid their return but stressing ongoing protection amid climate change and other pressures.
BP reported a $5.73bn quarterly profit (April–June), more than double a year earlier and the highest since 2022, as Brent crude averaged about $104 a barrel amid supply disruption from the Iran war; the company also signaled a shift away from renewables by planning to sell its US renewable natural gas business and its North Sea unit, while activist groups criticized windfall profits in the sector.
BP said it is putting its oil-and-gas business in the North Sea up for sale as part of a broader realignment to cut debt and streamline operations. The North Sea now accounts for a shrinking share of BP’s output (about 5% last year, ~117,000 barrels per day) with roughly 1,100 of the company’s ~14,000 employees in the unit. The move comes as UK politics weigh energy security and climate goals, and after peers like ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, and Chevron exited the region. BP intends to find a buyer that can better position the assets within a larger company while BP focuses on its broader portfolio.
Researchers confirm the Silverpit Crater beneath the southern North Sea was formed by a hypervelocity asteroid or comet about 43–46 million years ago. Using advanced seismic imaging and rock samples with shocked minerals, scientists show a ~160-meter-wide impactor struck at a shallow angle, producing a 1.5-kilometer-high curtain of rock and water that collapsed into a tsunami over 330 feet tall. The finding resolves a two-decade-long debate and places Silverpit among Earth's rare, well-preserved underwater impact craters.
Labour leader-in-waiting Andy Burnham faces a North Sea drilling decision: regulators may approve the Jackdaw gas field, while Rosebank remains more controversial; final approval rests with energy secretary Ed Miliband, whose role and potential as chancellor complicate Labour's climate- and jobs-focused agenda. Trump has signaled he’s watching Burnham’s stance, adding international scrutiny to a domestic energy choice as Labour seeks to balance energy security, jobs, and climate commitments.
President Donald Trump said he knows little about Andy Burnham, calling him 'extremely liberal' and suggesting Burnham would likely oppose opening Britain’s North Sea to more oil drilling. He also reiterated that Keir Starmer should have opened the North Sea, noting Starmer’s resignation amid weak poll numbers, while Burnham remains the Labour leadership’s sole declared contender who could be appointed by mid-July.
A dead humpback whale was dragged ashore in Denmark, with authorities scheduling an autopsy for next week to determine the cause of death. The carcass was moved from a shallow bay near Wismar, Germany, toward the North Sea near Fehmarn, close to the Danish border.
Timmy, a humpback whale once stranded in German waters, was released from a barge into the North Sea about 70 kilometres north of Skagen, into a busy shipping lane. Biologists say he was extremely weakened and highly likely to have died, with unclear details about how the release occurred and skepticism over the rescue team's tracking claims. The private operation cost at least €1.5 million and drew criticism from scientists and conservation groups regarding the risks and ethics of transporting injured wildlife.
A humpback calf nicknamed Timmy, previously stranded repeatedly along Germany’s coast and in distress, was rescued and loaded onto a water-filled barge before being released into the North Sea off Denmark. The intervention sparked debate over what to do, but Timmy appeared to swim freely and toward the Arctic, with GPS monitoring planned for future updates.
A privately funded rescue ferried a beached Baltic humpback calf nicknamed Timmy to the North Sea in a flooded barge and released him near Denmark, where he swam away with a tracker. Experts had warned the animal was severely compromised and survival was unlikely, and the IWC criticized the rescue as inadvisable, but the incident drew national attention and public support while Denmark said it would not intervene if Timmy stranded again.
A humpback whale nicknamed Timmy, stranded in shallow waters off Germany since March, has been placed on a flooded barge and is beginning a voyage toward the North Sea, having reached Danish waters amid ongoing debate about the rescue effort and wildlife welfare.
A humpback whale stranded for weeks on Germany’s Baltic coast was coaxed into a water-filled barge and towed out of German waters toward the North Sea in a rescue funded by two entrepreneurs. The operation drew mixed reactions: officials hailed the progress, scientists warned of uncertain outcomes, and wildlife groups cautioned about the whale’s skin damage and the risks of such a move as it heads toward deeper waters for potential recovery.
Seismic data and rock cuttings confirm the Silverpit Crater off Yorkshire formed 43–46 million years ago when a ~160-meter asteroid struck the shallow North Sea, vaporizing rock and water and spawning a tsunami over 100 meters tall; two shocked mineral grains in nearby samples settled the long-running debate and establish Silverpit as a rare marine impact crater.
A sedimentary ancient DNA study of Doggerland (the area now submerged under the North Sea) finds forests—oak, elm, and hazel—were present more than 16,000 years ago, earlier than previously thought, with DNA from Pterocarya suggesting some trees survived in isolated pockets for long periods and lime trees appearing earlier as well. Analyzing 252 samples from 41 marine cores reveals microrefugia and environmental shifts across the end of the last Ice Age, implying Doggerland could have supported early Mesolithic communities before it was submerged.
Archaeologists uncovered an almost 2,000-year-old Roman anchor off the UK coast in the North Sea, unusually well-preserved thanks to sand layers and low oxygen. The anchor, found during a seabed survey using sonar, reveals ongoing Roman maritime activity and trade routes in northern European waters.