Tom Bawden
21 March 2012
A new £3 billion “field allowance” for oil and gas companies was unveiled by the Chancellor in a bid to stimulate investment in the North Sea.
The new allowances will give developers of oilfields to the west of the Shetland islands tax relief on their investments and form part of a package of measures designed to boost the UK’s hydrocarbon industry.
These also include a pledge by the government to maintain the level of assistance it gives to North Sea oil explorers to decommission their rigs at about 75% of the cost.
Osborne also attacked the carbon reduction commitment emissions levy for being “cumbersome and bureaucratic” and expensive.