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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures are proposed to stimulate new exploration and appraisal drilling on the UK Continental Shelf.

In addition to establishing the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), over the last two years the Government has introduced a package of measures for the oil and gas industry worth £2.3bn. This included £40 million of funding for new seismic surveys to stimulate exploration and investment in existing and frontier areas in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), and funding for the Oil and Gas Technology Centre to serve as a global centre for solving the challenges of mature basins and maximising economic recovery of the UKCS. In addition, the OGA has awarded over £450,000 in an industry competition to improve the geological understanding of specific areas of the UKCS, taken forward two recent offshore licensing rounds, and introduced a new “Innovate Licence” to give operators greater flexibility around their work programme.