The graph below shows the production levels of the main kinds of fuel in the UK between 1981 and 2000. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The line graph illustrates how much petroleum, coal and natural gas the UK produced over two decades from 1981 to 2000, measured in million tonnes of oil equivalent.

Overall

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, oil remained the dominant fuel throughout the period, and its output rose considerably,

while

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the third source grew even more sharply and eventually overtook coal. Coal,

by contrast

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, was the only one whose production declined steadily across the twenty years. In 1981, petroleum output stood at roughly 90 units, slightly ahead of coal at 80. Over the following five years, oil production climbed to approximately 130, dipped to nearly 110 in 1991, and

then

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recovered to finish at its peak of 140. Coal,

in contrast

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, followed the opposite path. Having started at 80, it dropped to just over 50 by 1991 and

subsequently

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sank to a mere 20 in 2000, a quarter of its initial figure. Natural gas, meanwhile, began as the smallest of the three at around 40 and changed little until the early 1990s. After 1991,

however

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, it increased dramatically, reaching about 70 in 1996 and 110 by 2000, which was more than five times the amount of coal produced in the same year.

Consequently

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, by the end of the period,

this

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fuel had become the second most important in the country.