BP has said that the windfall tax on oil and gas operators will not affect its investments in the North Sea.
The UK Government said tax on "unexpected, extraordinary profits" of oil and gas producers would rise from 40% to 65% and will remain in place until prices “return to historically more normal levels” or the activation of a sunset clause.
On discovering the tax would only be phased out when oil and gas prices returned to historically more normal levels or by December 2025, BP said it would review its investment plans.
However, BP’s UK boss, Louise Kingham, told MPs on the environmental audit committee on Wednesday that, since then, clarification that the levy would definitely end by December 2025 had been “really helpful”.
She said: “We’ve still got a little bit of vagary around the sort of historic price and when we return to the price … so I think that will still hinder some in trying to do the detailed economics for their investment plans.
"What we know now without all of that clarity is that we don’t think at BP that the profits levy will impact on the investment plans we have in the North Sea.”
The levy included an investment allowance that handed companies 91p in tax savings for every £1 invested in the North Sea during the lifetime of the levy.
But the Ms Kingham and Shell UK country chair, David Bunch said the move would not speed up investments.
Mr Bunch said it was unlikely to “significantly accelerate” the projects by more than a few months.
“These projects are incredibly complex, they are sometimes decades in the planning and approval. So to try to speed them up or slow down is incredibly difficult; they tend to follow the pace that they follow safely in line with the regulatory process,” he said.