UK finance minister Rishi Sunak performs a U-turn on an oil and gas windfall tax
UK hits producers with windfall tax
The Johnson government U-turns again, while still calling for more investment
UK finance minister Rishi Sunak’s commitment that he would hit the country’s upstream sector with an additional tax burden only if they failed to reinvest profits in new projects lasted a whole nine days. On Thursday, he announced what he calls a “targeted energy profits levy”—or a windfall tax by any other name. “The new levy will be charged on the profits of oil and gas companies at a rate of 25pc,” says Sunak. “It will be temporary, and when oil and gas prices return to historically more normal levels, the levy will be phased out, with a sunset clause written into the legislation.” The proposed date on the sunset clause, at which point the new levy will automatically expire, is the end of
Also in this section
10 March 2026
Eni’s director for global gas and LNG portfolio, Cristian Signoretto, discusses how demand will respond to rising LNG supply, and how the company is expanding its own gas and LNG operations through disciplined, capital-efficient investments
9 March 2026
Petroleum Economist analysis sees increases in output from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Kazakhstan among others before region’s murky descent
9 March 2026
Energy sanctions are becoming an increasingly prominent tool of US foreign policy, with the country’s growth in oil and gas production allowing it to impose pressure on rivals without jeopardising its own energy security or that of its allies, argues Matthew McManus, a visiting fellow at the National Center for Energy Analytics
6 March 2026
The March 2026 issue of Petroleum Economist is out now!
