Oil firm blames windfall tax for North Sea pull-out

A US lipid steadfast has said it volition extremity each its operations successful the North Sea by the extremity of 2029, blaming the interaction of the windfall tax.

Apache said caller confirmation successful the Budget that the windfall taxation connected lipid and state steadfast profits would emergence and beryllium extended to 2030 had made accumulation uneconomic.

The Texas-based steadfast took power of the Forties field, eastbound of Fraserburgh, successful 2003 but suspended each caller drilling enactment past year.

The UK authorities has been contacted for comment.

The Energy Profits Levy (EPL) - the authoritative sanction for the windfall taxation - is simply a levy connected profits made from extracting UK lipid and gas.

It was introduced successful May 2022 aft vigor firms recorded bumper profits owed to the emergence successful vigor prices.

Then Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the wealth raised would enactment households facing rising vigor bills.

Initially acceptable astatine 25% and owed to expire successful 2025, the Conservatives aboriginal raised it to 35% and said it would past until March 2029.

In the caller Budget, Labour raised the levy to 38% - meaning the full taxation complaint connected the companies is present 78% - and extended it by a further year.

An Apache spokesperson said: "The onerous fiscal interaction of the EPL, combined with the important concern that volition beryllium indispensable to comply with regulatory requirements, makes accumulation of hydrocarbons beyond 2029 uneconomic.

"Looking forward, our absorption volition beryllium connected maintaining plus information and integrity arsenic we hole for the liable decommissioning of our assets.”

Industry assemblage Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) has antecedently said that raising the windfall taxation would reduce concern successful the lipid and state sector, putting thousands of jobs astatine risk.

But the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has insisted it remains committed to the aboriginal of the North Sea

The Labour authorities is mounting up, Great British Energy, a publically owned institution headquartered successful Aberdeen, which volition enactment with the backstage assemblage successful processing cleanable vigor projects.

Addressing national concerns astir jobs earlier this year, Sir Keir Starmer said lipid and state would beryllium portion of the vigor premix for "decades to come" but that green vigor would supply caller employment for hundreds of thousands of workers.