“The future structure of our offshore workforce must adapt to reflect these realities,” Scott Barr, managing director of Harbour Energy’s UK business, said in an emailed statement. British offshore operations “will continue to struggle to compete for capital within our global portfolio, while the EPL remains”, he said.
Harbour Energy, which completed the acquisition of Wintershall Dea’s non-Russian assets last year, operates in nine countries, including in Norway, Germany, Argentina, Mexico and North Africa. The company has already cut about 600 positions in the UK since the EPL was introduced, when energy prices soared following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Many O&G companies, already suffering declines in production at mature fields in the British North Sea, have been reassessing their activities after the windfall tax was extended and increased. Last year’s EPL hike to 38% brought the headline tax rate for the O&G sector to 78%, making Britain less attractive for investment, according to producers.
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