Oil giant BP has unveiled new drilling technology that it claims will allow it to extract more oil from fields in British waters.
Instead of pumping salty sea water down into rocks to release oil, BP will instead first remove the salt and then use the desalinated water to free more of the oil.
The technology will be put to the test in BP’s £4.5 billion Clair Ridge field to the west of Shetland, where the firm believes it can use the method to extract an extra 42 million barrels.
BP has previously said that about 250 million barrels could be recovered from the Clair field.
The technology was unveiled today at the British Science Festival in Aberdeen.