Clear shift in the types of investment opportunity in the UK North Sea
Time running out for UK North Sea
Smaller projects provide opportunities, but basin maturity and policy shifts amid political uncertainty signal a significant decline by the end of the decade
The UK North Sea has been battered and bruised. First by Covid, then by environmentalists, and finally by a traditionally supportive Conservative government bringing in the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) to 2028—and, just this March, announcing an extension to 2029. The decision to approve drilling at the $3.8b Rosebank project in the West of Shetland gave a confidence boost to the fragile UK North Sea oil sector towards the latter half of 2023. Containing around 300m bl of oil and owned by Norway’s Equinor and the UK’s Ithaca Energy, it may be one of the last large undeveloped discoveries in UK waters. But this should be viewed as a stay of execution rather than any last hurrah. “Post-Rosebank,
Also in this section
23 June 2025
Jet fuel will play crucial role in oil consumption growth even with efficiency gains and environmental curbs, with geopolitical risks highlighting importance of plentiful stocks
23 June 2025
A blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would have reverberations that would sound around the world
20 June 2025
The scale of energy demand growth by 2030 and beyond asks huge questions of gas supply especially in the US
20 June 2025
The Emirati company is ramping up its overseas expansion programme, taking it into new geographic areas that challenge long-held assumptions about Gulf NOCs
