Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Former Oil and Gas UK chief’s fears of North Sea ‘wholly premature death’

In an explosive interview, Malcolm Webb, 75, said he can speak frankly about the crisis in UK oil and gas.

Malcolm Webb during his time as Oil and Gas UK's chief executive. Image: DCT
Malcolm Webb during his time as Oil and Gas UK's chief executive. Image: DCT

The former head of Oil & Gas UK has accused politicians of “gross negligence” towards the offshore industries and their workers.

Malcolm Webb was chief executive of the influential trade association (now renamed Offshore Energies UK) from 2004 to 2015.

The expert, now aged 75, said he can now speak frankly about the crisis in UK oil and gas since stepping down from his role as Serica’s senior independent director over the summer.

He lobbed criticism at politicians over the damage its net zero energy transition policies are having.

“I was always hoping things were going to turn around, that somebody would see sense,” he said.

“I really needed to speak out. Somebody’s got to. I feel for the people and what is going to come.

“It’s a sort of tragedy of misunderstandings and miscomprehensions all over the place.

“The oil industry has been tarred with a certain brush. We’re seen as dirty and polluting and nasty.

“But the fact is, if you took oil and gas away from the world billions of people would die.

“People in this country would die of hypothermia the first winter.”

Benefits of oil and gas

The trained lawyer believes more people should be aware of the huge impact the industry has, not just on the economy and jobs, but on every aspect of our lives.

He highlights the more than £350 billion generated by production tax revenue since the 1960s.

Mr Webb said he had been “amazed” by politicians who demonstrated a worrying lack of knowledge of the industry they were steering.

“In my roles I’ve come across various MPs who for example believe oil was found in big lakes underneath the North Sea,” he added.

“How did people get in charge of this industry, or exercise authority on this industry, with such little knowledge of it?”

Imports arrive with a nasty carbon footprint

Mr Webb says the UK’s remaining oil and gas reserves will not satisfy existing demand at home. He said we will be forced to import more.

“We need to get back to MER UK, maximising economic recovery in the UK’s remaining oil and gas,” he added.

“Imports pay no tax, employ no UK people and frankly arrive with a pretty nasty carbon footprint too. Limit those by going back to MER UK.”

Malcolm Webb.
Malcolm Webb receiving an honorary doctorate from Aberdeen University in 2015.

The government currently plans to increase windfall taxes on oil and gas profits from 75% to 78%, extend the tax until 2030 and abolish tax incentives for investment.

Mr Webb said this “vicious” taxation is bringing the industry to its knees.

He adds: “Take this silly taxation regime away. It’s worse than silly, it’s malign. A taxation system that doesn’t allow you to offset your costs against the tax you pay is confiscatory.

“There’s no point in destroying this industry and punishing the economy in this way.”

GB Energy confusion

Mr Webb doesn’t believe the new state-owned GB Energy, which is to be based in Aberdeen, will make an impact.

“Everybody seems confused about what it’s going to do,” he said.

“It seems to me it’s going to go around subsidising some renewable-type operations and push some government money here and there and bring in some private money.

“Personally I don’t think that’s going to work.”

There will be an energy transition, assures Mr Webb, but it will be delivered by new technologies or possibly nuclear.

“Frankly, I don’t see wind and solar being the technologies that are going to take over,” he continued.

“They just aren’t intense enough in their energy supply really, nor reliable enough in this climate, to take over.

Mr Webb says successive UK governments have treated the oil and gas industry as a ‘cash cow’ and continued ‘over-taxation’ will only ‘kill it off quickly’.

“Motor transport’s overwhelmingly oil at the moment and I can’t see that being displaced in the near future. And then 90% of our homes are heated by gas.

“I think oil and gas has a future, but the tragedy is we will probably be importing it.”

Conversation