BP is putting its entire North Sea business up for sale, drawing a line under 60 years of production in the region. The BBC has the story:
The decision follows a review of BP’s operations as it seeks to slim down the group. Its North Sea business has five production hubs – two in the central North Sea and three west of Shetland – and employs about 1,100 people. …
“The UK has been our home for more than 100 years and will continue to play an important role in our future,” BP Chief Executive Meg O’Neill said.
“We’re proud of the jobs we create, the contribution we make to the UK economy and the work we do to keep energy flowing every day,” she said.
The company said it remained committed to operating the business safely and reliably throughout the sale process.
Its North Sea business produced 117,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025, a small fraction of the oil giant’s 2.3 million barrels of daily production.
O’Neill, who took the helm at BP in April, said earlier this year there was “untapped potential” in the North Sea.
However, in announcing Friday’s decision she said: “As we focus our portfolio and direct capital to our highest-value opportunities, we believe our North Sea business will be better positioned as part of another company.
“It has world-class people, resilient assets and a proud heritage, and it is precisely these qualities that can attract an owner ready to back its next chapter. We are seeking an outcome that recognises that value.”
The sale could potentially bring in £2 billion to BP. Last month, the FT reported the company was in talks with Ithaca Energy to sell its North Sea assets for around this amount, although the talks fell through. …
Oil and gas companies have also criticised the UK’s windfall tax – the Energy Profits Levy – which they argue means the North Sea has lost some of its appeal in recent years. …
The Scottish Greens said 80% of the oil from the North Sea was shipped overseas, therefore it was “doing very little to improve our energy security”.
Worth reading in full.
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BP long predates the discovery of North Sea oil in the 60s so a departure would not be unusual. Shell left the North Sea some time ago as smaller companies took over managing the mature fields. BP has underperformed over the last decade and its low value has made it a takeover target but there is talk that Shell have committed to stepping in as a white knight should an overseas bidder come along. Both BP and Shell have been hinted at moving their listing from London to New York where there is no tax on transaction and values are much higher. Shell and BP are valued less than a tenner while Exxon and Chevron are over $100.
I’ve heard many experts over the years explaining that increasing taxation rates will generate increased revenue for a period of time, but then result in less revenue in the long term. Conversely, reducing taxation rates actually increases revenue over time. I suspect the government’s attack on the oil industry will demonstrate this.
I think it already has.
I forecast it will not be long before BP moves its stock market listing out of London. Why would it want to be here.
Soon the UK will have nothing left. That presumably is the Zero in Net Zero.
“The Scottish Greens said 80% of the oil from the North Sea was shipped overseas, therefore it was “doing very little to improve our energy security”.
Not all oil is the s me.
Sour, heavy crude and other grades with high sulphur content is not used to produce motor fuels, and we no longer burn oil to produce electricity. So BP sells that oil abroad.
Sweet, Brent crude is used for motor fuels. Since UK now has only four refineries, much of this oil is shipped to Netherlands to be refined into diesel and aviation spirit in BP’s refineries and imported back to the UK. So it is in fact helping our energy security – just being refined next door not at home.
BP exports earn currency to pay for that motor fuel import and other oil grades we import which are not produced in the North Sea.
The Greens don’t live in a joined-up reality, know only slogans and dogma, and are economic illiterates.
The SNP is an example of extreme economic illiteracy.
Wasn’t one of the key SNP arguments in the run-up to the independence referendum that North Sea oil would be a key part of their economic security?
Yes, it was going to pay for all their socialist spending plans although there was an argument as to how much would be theirs depending how you projected the border out to sea.
So BP will change its name to P?
Why?
The Conservative Party, Labour and LibDem didn’t change their names to reflect their different purposes.
They’ll be a bigger shock when they delist and relist proper in the US, same with other giants like AZ etc… far more money to be made that way