Chief Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander said ministers are already working with the offshore sector on further incentives to boost North Sea investment.
As the industry prepares for a “boom” due to guarantees offered on decommissioning costs and field allowances in the Budget, he spoke of more good news coming yesterday.
This week’s Budget included plans for legislation this year to give the government power to offer “targeted measures” to boost investment in mature “brown” fields. It also said ministers would consider changes to allowances for high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) fields.
The Highland MP hoped the plans would help maximise investment and extraction from the North Sea. Speaking to the P&J yesterday, he said: “We’re legislating to take power to put in place these new brown-field allowances but we haven’t got any current proposals to do that.
“So there’s going to be talks with the oil industry about brown-field allowances. They have made a strong argument to us that they think brown-field allowances would help to put in place infrastructure to maximise the extraction from currently existing fields. We’re taking that work forward with them.
“The industry has also made representations about HPHT fields and again that is something we will continue to discuss with the industry with a view to maximising the investment and ensure we get as much oil as possible out of the North Sea in the years to come.”
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