The boss of the North Sea's biggest oil and gas producer has questioned the timing of Labour's changes to the Energy Profits levy (EPL) as her firm completes a major overseas acquisition.
Linda Cook, the CEO of Harbour Energy, said the "hurdle to attract investment" in the UK was now going to be higher, after Labour announced that the EPL would rise from an overall rate of 75% to 78%, run until 2030 rather than 2029, and that it would remove allowances to allow companies to offset investment spending against their tax bill.
The company felt the brunt of the windfall tax when it was initially introduced in 2022, cutting 350 onshore jobs in the UK.
Ms Cook told the Financial Times: "Everyone understands that the UK will need oil and gas for many years to come, so why don’t we seem to want to use our own?
"It is better for investment, for energy security, for tax revenues, balance of trade and emissions."
Wintershall Dea deal complete
Harbour completed its $11.2bn (£8.54bn) takeover of Wintershall Dea on Tuesday, months prior that orginally expected.
The acquisition is a key pivot away from the UK North Sea, which Harbour depended on for about 90% of its output.
The deal sees the UK-based firm more than double its output from assets in Algeria, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Libya, Mexico and Norway, meaning its dependency on the UK North Sea is now roughly a third.
Ms Cook told the markets: "We are extremely proud to have completed the Wintershall Dea acquisition.
"It marks our fourth and most transformational acquisition since we were founded in 2014, and is another big step forward as we continue to build a large, global independent oil and gas company focused on the safe and responsible production of the oil and gas the world still needs.
"I would like to thank everyone involved for their tremendous efforts in completing the Acquisition and welcome new colleagues from Wintershall Dea to Harbour.
"We look forward to continuing to realise the potential of our company for all our stakeholders."
FTSE 100
The UK's flagship share index, the FTSE 100, was down 145-points at 8,230 shortly after opening this morning.
Brent crude oil futures were down 0.43%, trading at $73.43 a barrel.
Companies reporting today
Barratt Developments* | Full Year Results |
Direct Line Insurance Group* | Half Year Results |
Hilton Food Group | Half Year Results |
M&G* | Half Year Results |