Put your profits back into UK, Kwarteng tells oil and gas firms

ENERGY giants must set out a “very clear plan” to reinvest their profits in Britain, the Business Secretary has warned.

As companies such as Shell and BP are expected to reveal bumper returns this week, Kwasi Kwarteng warned that “in return” for the Government granting new exploration licenses for oil and gas, Boris Johnson wanted firms to produce proposals for putting profits back into the North Sea as well as investing in green energy production in the UK.

Mr Johnson, Mr Kwarteng and Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, are facing pressure from Labour to introduce a windfall tax on North Sea gas and oil producers to fund further help for households facing rising energy bills.

Last week Mr Sunak said that unless big firms do more to protect energy security, levying a windfall tax was “something I’d look at”.

In a letter to the oil and gas industry ahead of a roundtable discussion to be hosted by the PM, Mr Kwarteng said: “In return for the UK Government’s ongoing support for the sector, the Prime Minister, Chancellor and I want to see a very clear plan from the oil and gas industry to reinvest profits in the North Sea and in the clean energy technologies of the future.”