Overall, the production of petroleum and natural gas rose, with petroleum remaining the most important fuel in the UK throughout. The figure for coal, by contrast, fell and was overtaken by that for natural gas, which had the lowest production levels initially.
In 1981, 90m tons of petroleum were produced, which was slightly higher than the amount of coal, at 80m tons, while natural gas had much lower figures with below 40m tons produced.
By 1984, production levels of petroleum had increased by 50m tons, and that coal decreased by roughly 40m tons. For the rest of the period, the figure for petroleum sharply decline by the same percentage points in 1991, returned to its original state in the next 4 years, and rose slightly by the end of the year. Meanwhile, production levels of coal rose to 20 m tons, returned to its original state in 1996, and stayed unchanged unchanged by 2000.
By contrtast, the level of natural gas rose to 40m tons in 1996 and reaching its peak at 10m tons in the final year.
