Offshore oil and gas strategy interim report

Sir Ian Wood, recently retired Chair of the Wood Group, a multi-national engineering services company focused on the energy sector, has published his interim report revealing the economic and energy security opportunities still available from the UK’s offshore oil and gas resources. The report is part of the UK Continental Shelf “Maximising Recovery Review” commissioned by the Government in June with a final report expected in early 2014.

Sir Ian’s report suggests that his recommendations could provide an increase of at least 3-4 billion barrels of oil equivalent above current expectations over the next twenty years. This would potentially bring around £200 billion of additional value to the UK economy. Two key recommendations are:

• Putting in place a new shared strategy between the industry, the Department for Energy and Climate Change and Her Majesty’s Treasury; for example, developing new allowances aimed at incetivising small and ‘brownfield’ sites; and
• Creation of a new regulator aimed at maximising the economic recovery of the UK’s oil and gas sector, to oversee and develop the sectors growth, for example, through strategies on exploration and infrastructure.

The UK’s oil and gas industry is of national importance and makes a substantial contribution to energy security and the economy. For decades the oil and gas sector has been one of the UK’s major industrial success stories. In 2012-13 the industry paid £6.5 billion in corporate taxes on production, 15% of all corporate taxes in the UK, and supports the employment of 450,000 people across the UK. 41 billion barrels of oil and gas have already been produced from the UK Continental Shelf and 20 billion or more could still be produced.

For more information, help or advice please contact Andrew Davison on 0191 211 7950.