The windfall tax is not the cause of all North Sea job losses

THE continuing outcry over the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) suggests that the windfall tax is responsible for every job loss in the North Sea ( The North East and the windfall wrecking ball, Dec 2 ). Harbour Energy’s latest claim – that around 100 posts have gone as a direct consequence – fits a wider pattern of attributing structural problems to a single tax measure. But a fuller look at the evidence tells a different story.

First, the decline began long before the EPL. North Sea employment has been falling since 2014, and offshore output since 2000. These trends long pre-date any windfall tax. The North Sea Transition Authority and the Office for Budget Responsibility have repeatedly described the UK basin as geologically exhausted: new fields are smaller, shorter-lived and costlier to