Natural gas producers in the North Sea are in a rush to increase production as a supply squeeze lifted gas prices in the UK and Europe to record highs. But it won’t be easy because of the gas production slump in the region earlier this year. The production slump was the result of delayed maintenance at the Forties pipeline network, which temporarily shut in all 67 offshore fields connected to it for three weeks in June. Some fields remained shut in for longer, Wood Mackenzie said in a report on North Sea gas, as some parts of the pipeline system needed additional work. As a result, UK gas production in the first eight months of the year totaled just 17 billion cubic meters. This was down from 24 billion cubic meters the previous year. It is, however, recovering: in August, North Sea field operators pumped 72 percent more gas […]