<P> Commercial extraction of oil on the shores of the North Sea dates back to 1851 , when James Young retorted oil from torbanite ( boghead coal , or oil shale ) mined in the Midland Valley of Scotland . Across the sea in Germany , oil was found in the Wietze field near Hanover in 1859 , leading to the discovery of seventy more fields , mostly in Lower Cretaceous and Jurassic reservoirs , producing a combined total of around 1340 m3 ( 8,400 barrels ) per day . </P>
<P> Commercial extraction of oil on the shores of the North Sea dates back to 1851 , when James Young retorted oil from torbanite ( boghead coal , or oil shale ) mined in the Midland Valley of Scotland . Across the sea in Germany , oil was found in the Wietze field near Hanover in 1859 , leading to the discovery of seventy more fields , mostly in Lower Cretaceous and Jurassic reservoirs , producing a combined total of around 1340 m3 ( 8,400 barrels ) per day . </P>
when was oil first discovered in the north sea
when was oil first discovered in the north sea
1851
1851