Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to section 3.8, page 28 of Oil and Gas UK’s Economic Report 2018, published on 11 September 2018, what steps he is taking to encourage an increase in drilling activity on the UK Continental Shelf for oil and gas reserves that are more expensive to extract.

The Government created the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) to regulate, influence and promote the UK oil and gas industry in order to maximise the economic recovery of the UK’s oil and gas resources. The OGA has developed an exploration strategy (https://www.ogauthority.co.uk/news-publications/publications/2016/exploration-strategy/), with strong input from the industry and government, which includes working with the industry to enhance exploration investment, integrate exploration into regional development plans, and license underexplored and more mature areas of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).

The Government has also provided £45 million of funding for seismic acquisition programmes in under-explored areas of the UKCS to support this activity.

In May 2018, the OGA offered for award 123 licences over 229 blocks or part-blocks to 61 companies in the 30th Offshore Licensing Round. These successful awards act as a strong platform for future exploration and production across the UKCS and can help transform exploration activity levels.