Sunak demands oil and gas companies increase UK investments

Sunak demands oil and gas companies increase UK investments

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is demanding North Sea oil and gas companies agree to a significant boost to their energy investments in the UK to avoid being hit by a windfall tax.

Sunak does not want to introduce the levy — he has warned it would deter investment — but he is coming under increasing pressure from MPs to impose the tax to help households struggling with soaring energy bills.

The chancellor is looking to oil and gas companies to raise their capital spending on UK projects to boost the country’s self-sufficiency in energy after BP and Shell reported big increases in quarterly profits last week, according to Sunak’s allies.

“We want to see firms come forward with ambitious investment plans as soon as possible,” said one ally.

Investment in the North Sea by energy companies has fallen 90 per cent since 2014, according to OEUK, the trade body for Britain’s offshore oil and gas industry, and capital spending is expected to at most plateau in the coming years.

Companies including BP and Shell have made recent statements about future investments in the UK, partly focused on exploration and development in the North Sea but also including spending on renewable energy and other low carbon projects.

But