North Sea’s biggest oil and gas producer warns against UK windfall tax

North Sea’s biggest oil and gas producer warns against UK windfall tax

The biggest producer of oil and gas in UK waters has pushed back strongly against government threats of a windfall tax on the industry’s surging profits, warning it would make some North Sea projects uneconomic and could be “detrimental” to the country’s energy security.

Linda Cook, chief executive of the FTSE 100 company Harbour Energy, warned a one-off levy would lead to the industry approving fewer projects at a time when ministers want to maximise domestic energy production to reduce the country’s reliance on imports, including from Russia.

“A higher tax burden will make it more challenging for new oil and gas projects to meet investment hurdle rates, meaning fewer projects will be sanctioned. This is at a time when industry is being encouraged to increase domestic UK oil and gas production and support an orderly energy transition,” Cook told the Financial Times.

Her comments echo similar warnings from oil majors BP and Shell in recent weeks after business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng demanded oil and gas producers lay out a clear plan of how their profits would be reinvested in the UK.

Harbour told Kwarteng last week that it planned to invest $6bn in the North Sea over the three years to 2024. This