Fossil Fuels: North Sea
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the (a) amount of oil and gas that the North Sea will produce in each year until 2060 and (b) tax revenue generated from that oil and gas (i) directly from North Sea oil taxes and (ii) in taxes from employment; how much oil and gas will need to be imported each year between now and 2060; and from which countries that oil and gas will be imported from.
Answered by Michael Shanks
The North Sea Transition Authority publishes UK oil and gas production projections to 2050 and the OBR’s latest forecasts for oil and gas tax revenues up to 2028/29 was published in the March 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook. Future years will be included in future forecasts. Tax revenues from oil and gas employment will be included under forecasts for Income Tax and National Insurance, which are not separated by industry.
The Energy Security Plan Update, published in December 2023, included an assessment of the role of imports in meeting our domestic gas demand until 2050. The department also publishes projections of the UK’s future demand for oil (under existing and near-final policy) and monitors both UK production and demand as part of the regular departmental output.
These assessments will be updated in due course to reflect the new government's policy.
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