INEOS boss: North Sea decommissioning is ideological and destructive Opinion From 2029, decommissioning spending will overtake capital investment in the North Sea. This is economic self-harm, writes Brian Gilvary.
Octopus boss Greg Jackson calls for ‘urgent reform’ on energy as bills rise Politics Octopus boss Greg Jackson has called on Andy Burnham to deliver “urgent reform” to the energy market to protect households from “volatile” gas prices. Jackson, founder of the UK’s biggest household electricity supplier, said: “The government’s decision to take VAT off electricity and remove some of the levies from bills has helped soften the blow [...]
Britain should back the North Sea if it wants energy security and net zero Opinion The UK cannot afford to talk up growth, jobs and energy security while turning its back on the domestic resources it still needs, writes David Whitehouse Britain faces a simple choice. While we still need oil and gas, do we produce more of it here, supporting jobs, investment, energy security and lower production emissions, or [...]
What Burnham could learn from BP’s pragmatism August 5, 2026 In 2020, BP unveiled a “major, necessary step in support of our purpose to reimagine energy for people and our planet.” The new strategy – “performing while transforming” – would see the firm “significantly scale-up our low carbon energy business” as part of a commitment “to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner [...]
North Sea is not competitive, says BP boss days after exit August 4, 2026 The boss of BP has branded the North Sea as not competitive just days after putting the company’s assets in the basin up for sale. Meg O’Neill, who took over as chief executive in April said she had spoken with prime minister Andy Burnham as she justified BP’s decision to exit the North Sea. Speaking [...]
BP quits North Sea after tax grab July 31, 2026 BP will sell its North Sea oil division after the government’s tax raid on domestic oil, in a move that will leave the British energy giant without any petrochemicals production in its home market for the first time in decades. The London-listed oil giant told investors it planned to market its assets in the region [...]
Burnham to approve North Sea oil and gas drilling in policy blitz July 17, 2026 Incoming prime minister Andy Burnham is set to announce new drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea within days of taking office as part of a policy blitz, according to reports. Burnham’s team has asked the civil service to draw up plans to approve drilling projects at the Jackdaw gas field and Rosebank [...]
Industry bodies call on Burnham to bring down energy bills to fire up growth July 14, 2026 Andy Burnham’s government must slash green levies on companies’ energy bills and bring forward support for energy-intensive industries if it wants to fire up Britain’s economy and win over a sceptical private sector, two of Britain’s largest industry bodies have said. In a joint report published today, the CBI and Energy UK called on the [...]
Streeting suggests North Sea drilling and NI cuts in latest pitch May 31, 2026 Former health secretary Wes Streeting has suggested cutting national insurance and issuing new North Sea oil drilling licenses as he continues to make his leadership pitch. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Streeting set out a series of policies ahead of a potential leadership contest expected within the coming months in Westminster, including drilling [...]
Tony Blair accuses Starmer of damaging economy by clinging to manifesto pledges May 27, 2026 Sir Tony Blair has taken a swipe at Sir Keir Starmer for sticking to campaign pledges from Labour’s 2024 manifesto, which he says are economically damaging and should have been dropped “right at the outset.” In a 5,000-word essay published by his think tank, Labour’s longest serving PM pointed out that Budgets put forward by [...]