CHANCELLOR George Osborne was asked personally to rethink his £10billion tax raid on North Sea oil and gas producers by the most powerful figures in the global industry.
New records reveal Treasury ministers held a flurry of meetings with senior representatives from nine energy giants in the weeks after the controversial Budget in March.
Christophe de Margerie, chief executive of Total – one of the six “supermajor” world oil companies – is believed to have expressed his dismay to Mr Osborne at a meeting in May.
The chancellor, who was under heavy fire from the industry at the time, also discussed the implications of the Budget with representatives from ExxonMobile in April and met bosses from Centrica during the same month.
Justine Greening, then economic secretary to the Treasury, also discussed “oil and gas issues” with Statoil, Shell, Nexen, GDF Suez, Chevron and British Gas at meetings in May and June.
Details of the talks, published by the Treasury, underline the level of frustration in the sector at the tax rise and the way it was introduced without consultation.
Several of the companies warned publicly that the move would lead to major projects and investment being shelved.
Industry body Oil and Gas UK held a well-publicised meeting with the chancellor in May, but it is understood individual firms wanted to outline their specific concerns to Mr Osborne.
A source at one of the oil firms said: “We thought that the tax changes hadn’t been fully thought through.
“We thought that if the Treasury really thought about what it was doing, it would see how misguided it was.”
Treasury officials have taken steps to improve communication with the industry since the Budget.
Last night, a spokesman for the department said: “The Treasury is committed to positive engagement with the oil and gas industry and ministers meet regularly with firms to discuss a range of issues.”
A spokeswoman for ExxonMobil said: “ExxonMobil can confirm that company representatives met the chancellor and Treasury officials in April 2011 as part of our normal discourse with the government and its ministers on a range of issues affecting the energy industry, including taxation.”
A spokesman for Total said: “Total Group’s CEO, Christophe de Margerie, did meet Mr Osborne to discuss the tax changes announced in the March Budget.”