Tax U-turn to boost North Sea oil

Oil industry leaders are anticipating more North Sea tax relief after the first signs of a Government U-turn. Modest tax changes were announced yesterday as the Prime Minister and Chancellor intervened to try to boost flagging production.

Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling took the unprecedented step of making a direct appeal to oil industry leaders to increase output and accelerate developments. They took members of Oil and Gas UK, the industry trade body, by surprise by asking to join what was planned as a routine meeting of the organisation near Aberdeen yesterday.



They held out the prospect of regulatory and tax changes to attract more North Sea investment and provide the incentives to develop new discoveries which are little more than ‘puddles’ compared with the giant Brent and Forties fields.

Malcolm Webb, chief executive of Oil & Gas UK, said the proposals “could have a significant impact on the near-term production”.

Telegraph