North Sea Oil Firms Bemoan Continued Uncertainty on Tax, Permits

Top UK oil and gas producers complained that there’s still little clarity on the government’s plans for taxes and permits for North Sea drilling, making investment decisions difficult.

“We do think that there are opportunities in the North Sea, but these are not really going to be commercially viable if we don’t see the stability of economic and regulatory landscape,” Hebe Trotter, vice president for global government relations at Harbour Energy Plc, said at the UK Parliament’s Scottish Affairs Committee session on Wednesday.

There are still a lot of economic opportunities even in the mature North Sea basin, but ...