OIL GROUPS face growing pressure to quit the North Sea amid evidence of global failure to find big new oil deposits.

The world’s top ten energy companies are failing to find enough new crude to replenish their reserves, according to Wood Mackenzie, the oil consultancy, which sees exploration in the UK North Sea as the industry’s biggest waste of money over the past five years.

The leading energy groups, which issue full-year financial results over the next fortnight, face scrutiny by shareholders seeking evidence of resources to increase oil output in the next five years. Shell this month scared investors when it cut a fifth of its reserves to “unproven” status. The outcry led Wood Mackenzie to study the industry’s top ten and the consultancy has concluded they are finding fewer barrels.

David Halliday, of Wood Mackenzie, said exploration could no longer propel the industry. The largest reserves remained locked in the Middle East, and the biggest prizes in Europe and North America have been found. “Companies will need to face this,” he said.

The lesson is to know when to stop investing, Wood Mackenzie says, adding: “To withdraw completely from an area like the UK North Sea or parts of Latin America would be a tough call. The question for managements is: when will that time come?”

Many reported additions to reserves come not from finds, but enhanced recovery, it says.