The development of North Sea oil and gas was initially stimulated by the growing dependence of Western Europe on increasingly expensive oil imports. Following a major gas discovery in 1959, several more gas fields were located in the southern North Sea, but as exporation has moved north, oil has become the more important element in new discoveries. While the UK has been anxious to develop its offshort resources as quickly as possible, Norway has favoured a slower rate of development. The onshore impact of offshore development varies as one moves from the exploration to the development and extraction stages. While traditional industrial centres have benefitted from offshore development, so also have many social and phsical planning problems. In the longrun, the main effects of offshore development are derived from the additional wealth made available by oil/gas exports, reduced oil/gas imports, and the use of oil/gas as an industrial raw material.