Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the Government's projected tax receipts are from North Sea oil and gas in the next 10 years; and what the total public liability for decommissioning costs will be in the next 10 years.

The forecasted Exchequer revenues up to 2021-22 (Offshore Corporation Tax and Petroleum Revenue Tax) arising from the production and extraction of North Sea oil and gas from the UK and UK Continental Shelf are presented in Table 4.6 of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR’s) Economic and Fiscal Outlook: November 2016. This is available to view at: http://cdn.budgetresponsibility.org.uk/Nov2016EFO.pdf.

The OBR will be publishing updated forecasts on 8 March 2017.

Longer-term estimates of revenues from the production and extraction of North Sea oil and gas were published as a supplementary table of the OBR’s Fiscal Sustainability Report: June 2015. This is available to view at: http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/FSR_2015_Supplementary_Tables.xlsx.

It should be noted that the longer-term estimates are based on the March 2015 forecast and determinants.

There is considerable uncertainty in the costs, timing and the duration of decommissioning activity in the UK. The estimated Exchequer costs for the decommissioning of North Sea oil and gas infrastructure over the period 2015 to 2041 are £16 billion (nominal), as presented in Table 3.12 of the OBR’s Fiscal Sustainability Report: July 2016 analytical papers: http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/FSAP_July_2016_public_sector_balance_sheet_.pdf.