Over 35 years, the Petroleum Geology Conference series has been the leading UK conference dedicated to making public the scientific advances and findings of some four decades of NW European hydrocarbon exploration and production. Leading edge issues in the NW European province after four decades include small pool and high pressure high temperature (HPHT) exploration, late-stage field exploitation and field redevelopment. The rich subsurface datasets and pioneering of emerging technologies provide a stream of valuable models, lessons, techniques and ideas which have both local and international applicability. Papers grouped under the exploration theme contain regional, local and detailed studies which illustrate the nature of current exploration activity for small, deep and complex structural and stratigraphic prospects. Closer and more comprehensive integration of seismic-derived understanding of structural evolution and seismic, well and analogue-derived depositional and sequence stratigraphic constraints are probably the most fruitful approaches and are shown by a number of papers. Papers on field development and production themes describe the industry's response to challenges such as low permeability and reservoir prediction through the use of multiple 3D and 4D seismic datasets and the exploitation of advances in drilling, well logging and completion technologies to drain progressively smaller per well reserves. Again, integration is the watchword, here between interpretations and analyses of subsurface data with well planning and construction. Finally, a number of papers describe current techniques in petrophysics, 3D and 4D seismic applications and remote sensing approaches.