UK may have to import 70% of oil and gas needs by 2030

THE UK could have to import 70% of its oil and gas demand by the end of this decade if there is not “sustained investment” in the sector, industry leaders have warned.

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It comes after a report said production from the North Sea fell to a “historic low” in 2024, leaving the UK needing imports of oil and gas to meet more than 40% of its energy needs.

That is despite Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) insisting there are still “significant oil and gas reserves” in the North Sea, with the industry body saying these could be realised if there was “continued support for the sector”.

As part of this, OEUK chief executive David Whitehouse argued that scrapping the current windfall tax on oil and gas, and replacing it with more “appropriate price mechanisms’, could help deliver more than two billion barrels of oil and gas - and add up to £150bn to the UK’s economy.