Partner Article

Government calls for industry's thoughts on future of North Sea tax

The Government is calling for industry to submit its thoughts on the state of the UK oil and gas tax regime, and what its future should hold.

The project is designed to find ways to encourage further investment in the North Sea and marks the beginning of 12 weeks of discussion with the oil and gas industry and other stakeholders about the long-term shape of the tax regime.

There is still a considerable amount of oil and gas left to recover from the Continental Shelf - up to around 21 billion barrels of oil (boe) equivalent.

The basin is currently attracting record levels of private investment - £14.4 billion in 2013, and there are around 125 groups of companies now involved as licensees in offshore exploration and production.

However, exploration and production is becoming harder and more expensive, and the UK is facing competition for capital from other countries.

As the independent Office for Budget Responsibility highlighted last week, tax revenue generated from the oil and gas industry will continue to decline over the long-term.

The value of the industry to the country will increasingly come through wider economic benefits - through jobs, skills and exports.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .