UK finance minister Rishi Sunak performs a U-turn on an oil and gas windfall tax
UK hits producers with windfall tax
The Johnson government U-turns again, while still calling for more investment
UK finance minister Rishi Sunak’s commitment that he would hit the country’s upstream sector with an additional tax burden only if they failed to reinvest profits in new projects lasted a whole nine days. On Thursday, he announced what he calls a “targeted energy profits levy”—or a windfall tax by any other name. “The new levy will be charged on the profits of oil and gas companies at a rate of 25pc,” says Sunak. “It will be temporary, and when oil and gas prices return to historically more normal levels, the levy will be phased out, with a sunset clause written into the legislation.” The proposed date on the sunset clause, at which point the new levy will automatically expire, is the end of
Also in this section
11 July 2025
Equinor and its partners at Norway’s largest oilfield have pulled the trigger on a fresh $1.3b investment that will maintain high output for longer
11 July 2025
Reassessment of the country’s export-facing gas policy coincides with worsening domestic market backdrop
10 July 2025
Without sanctions relief, there is little reason to believe the latest potential attempt at exports from the Russian liquefaction project will be more successful than the one last summer
9 July 2025
Efforts to restructure and boost investment appear to be working, but doubts remain about the plan to almost double crude production by 2030
