BP has finally realized that the UK North Sea sector is unsustainable and needs to divested and/or decommissioned. UK taxation authorities have made investment and upkeep untenable with a 78% tax rate. The asset condition are atrocious and will negatively impact BP permit to operate.
BP needs to to leave the UK while its easy.
5 replies (most recent on top)
North Sea had a well added to a top 10 list last year not because of value but because the region complained, it was a great water well. I always wonder what so many folks are doing here, GoA pays our bills and capex I guess, a great socialist mindset, Rob Peter to pay Laura! It just struck me, Why do we need a British VP for GoA and a US vp for North Sea? Seems like cost cutting is only for lunches to be around $20 for the peons and use local labor, does not apply to other employees. Just a move back and forth over 3 years would be about $250k for these folks that really are not the difference makers.
@OP That’s a very dramatic take, but it doesn’t line up with the actual picture.
BP hasn’t “finally realised” anything the North Sea has been a mature basin for over a decade, and every operator has been managing decline, not discovering it. The 78% headline tax rate is also misleading: it’s a marginal rate applied only to extraordinary profits, and it comes with massive decommissioning tax relief. That’s why companies stay — because the government effectively subsidises the clean‑up.
And the idea that BP should “leave the UK while it’s easy” ignores the obvious: you can’t walk away from end‑of‑life assets. You’re legally tied to decommissioning obligations, environmental liabilities, and partner agreements. There is no exit button.
Asset condition is a challenge across the basin, but that’s precisely why operators are investing in integrity, not fleeing. The permit‑to‑operate risk is managed through regulation, not avoided by abandoning the region.
If we’re going to critique BP, let’s do it on the real issues capital allocation, portfolio discipline, and long‑term strategy not on oversimplified doom‑narratives about the North Sea collapsing overnight.
You sell but keep the Decomm.
Who ever buys these assets will default on the decommissioning responsibility. There’s not enough reserves to pay this off. They will perform minimum investment to defer the eventual requirements
They dropped the price by 50% still no one interested. Meg desperate to sell.