Energy group Shell has said it is now taking a hit of around £1.65billion from windfall taxes imposed in the UK and European Union.

Governments have imposed levies on energy producers to capture some of the massive profits they have made through high oil and gas prices.

North Sea boss at Shell Simon Roddy told Energy Voice last month that the firm expects to pay "hundreds of millions" in tax over the coming years.

That came after a meeting with British Chancellor Jeremy Hunt over the Energy Profits Levy (EPL).

Mr Roddy said dialogue was "constructive", but he also warned against undermining investment stability.

"We are a long-term business. Investment capital will go to the most stable environment and the introduction and then changes to the EPL has really not helped that stability.

Investment stability undermined

"We will continue to advocate for further investment stability which has obviously been undermined by that."

In September, the EU Commission proposed new regulation on fossil-fuel producers and low-cost electricity generating companies.

The tax is being levied on the "surplus taxable profits" on oil, gas, coal and refinery sectors.

However, opposition continues to mount against the imposition by European and UK governments of the massive windfall levies.

US energy giant ExxonMobil is now suing the European Union in a bid to stop the swoop on its profits.

It has accused Brussels of exceeding its legal authority, calling the measure "counter-productive".

Discouraging investment

The company, along with other major players in the oil sector, has argued that a crackdown on profits would discourage investment.

Just last month, the Association of British Independent Exploration Companies (Brindex) revealed that many of its members were thinking again on 2023 spending due to the UK's new windfall tax on oil and gas producers.

Chairman Robin Allan said he was "not surprised" to see revisions as firms can no longer "safely plan on fiscal stability".

The comments came after leading producer Harbour Energy said would shun the UK's ongoing licensing round in the sector due to the controversial levy.

Meanwhile, oil major TotalEnergies has said it will cut £100million from its 2023 spending plan due to the tax grab.

Pressure continues to mount on the UK Chancellor for a rethink on the severity of his tax changes. Mr Hunt has hiked the EPL by another 10% to 35% - bringing the overall tax rate from this month to an eye-watering 75%.

  • Several senior MPs have claimed Chinese involvement in North Sea oil and gas operators presents a "very real risk to security", as the UK's diplomatic stance continues to harden.

Iain Duncan Smith, chairman of the cross-party policy group Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said the government was "failing to take seriously" the involvement of Chinese-backed firms in strategic businesses, including North Sea oil and gas.

Alongside other senior MPs, Mr Duncan Smith is reported to have called for a review of Chinese business interests and pressed the government to remove stakes held in North Sea firms.

Energy Voice says the ramp up in rhetoric comes in the wake of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's first major foreign policy speech in November, in which he said the "golden era" of UK-China relations is now at an end, branding the nation a "systemic challenge to our values and interests".

Alicia Kearns MP, chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and the China Research Group, said that China's "growing dominance in many key energy sectors poses a very real risk to our security".

She drew attention to the government's move last year to buy out stakes in the Sizewell C nuclear energy project held by state-owned China General Nuclear, suggesting a similar stance be taken for the offshore sector.

"It's plainly counterproductive to remove Chinese state involvement in our nuclear energy sector with one hand if we continue to wave through dangerous dependence in the oil and gas sector with the other," she added

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