#windfall tax

The UK government has unveiled proposals that could ease the tax burden on the offshore oil and gas sector but confirmed that it would also ban new drilling licences as part of a pledge to “unleash the North Sea’s clean energy future”.

The “windfall” tax on North Sea drillers, introduced in 2022 to help support households facing rising energy bills after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, would be scrapped from 2030, the Treasury confirmed on Wednesday.

In its place, ministers will consult on a new regime, under which duties move in tandem with global wholesale energy prices, something the industry said would provide its investors with “certainty”.

Alongside the tax plans, the government announced an eight-week consultation on how to manage the North Sea’s transition from oil and gas to cleaner forms of energy, without triggering mass job losses.

The proposals, part of plans for the UK to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, follow through on Labour’s manifesto commitment not to permit any new drilling licences. This would make the UK the first major G7 oil producer to take such a step. However, the Guardian understands that oil companies could be allowed to increase the size of their fields with “bolt-ons” to existing licences.

Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said the consultation would avert job losses in the North Sea oil industry during the transition to hydrogen, renewable energy and technologies such as carbon capture and storage.

Greenpeace welcomed the “reaffirmation of the government’s world-leading commitment to end our reliance on North Sea oil and gas”.

New survey data out this week shows that U.S. voters—regardless of party affiliation—overwhelmingly support a windfall profits tax on U.S. oil corporations that are using Russia's war on Ukraine to hike prices at the pump.

According to polling results released by the League of Conservation Voters, 80% of U.S. voters—including 73% of Republicans—support "placing a windfall profits tax on the extra profits oil companies are making from the higher gasoline prices they are charging because of the Russia-Ukraine situation."

More broadly, 87% of U.S. voters want Congress and President Joe Biden to "crack down on price gouging and excessive price increases by oil companies that result in higher gas prices at the pump."

Jamie Henn, director of Fossil Free Media, said in a statement Friday that the survey data shows voters "know who is to blame for high gas prices: Big Oil."

"For politicians on both sides of the aisle, this polling is proof that their constituents overwhelmingly support the idea of a windfall profits tax that would stop Big Oil profiteering and send relief directly to consumers," Henn added. "If members of Congress refuse to act, it'll be concrete evidence that they’re in the pockets of the industry."

The fresh polling came days after a group of House and Senate Democrats unveiled legislation that would hit large, highly profitable oil companies with "a per-barrel tax equal to 50% of the difference between the current price of a barrel of oil and the pre-pandemic average price per barrel between 2015 and 2019."

"Revenue raised from the windfall profits of big oil companies will be returned to consumers in the form of a quarterly rebate, which would phase out for single filers who earn more than $75,000 in annual income and joint filers who earn more than $150,000," according to a summary released by the office of Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), the bill's lead sponsor in the House.

After an initial surge following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, oil prices have fallen in recent days—but gas prices in the U.S. have remained elevated, bolstering the narrative that corporate profiteering is driving up costs at the pump.

"Oil prices are decreasing, gas prices should too," President Joe Biden wrote in a Twitter post on Wednesday. "Last time oil was $96 a barrel, gas was $3.62 a gallon. Now it's $4.31. Oil and gas companies shouldn’t pad their profits at the expense of hardworking Americans."

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, echoed the president's message.

Truss Supports War Profiteering.