He made the remarks as he revealed his firm’s Forties Pipeline System (FPS) has seen North Sea oil flows drop by 40% during the last six years.
The FPS strikes 40% of the UK’s oil from the North Sea by way of to Grangemouth, the place it’s processed for distribution all through the UK.
Ineos has been compelled to shut a 3rd of the system’s processing capability because of the current discount in oil circulation, Sir Jim stated, probably threatening a whole bunch of jobs that rely on it.
He blamed the decline on a mix of windfall taxes and “negative signals” he claims politicians have been making about the way forward for the North Sea in current occasions.
Sir Jim argued the “worrying” decline places UK customers “at the mercy” of international producers and is inflicting big volatility in power costs, pushing ever rising numbers of individuals into gasoline poverty.
Expanding on his themes, he stated the principle purpose for the current decline was an absence of funding in new oil and gasoline fields brought on by firms having much less money after paying new windfall taxes.
Sir Jim stated the issue was made worse by “mixed messages” coming from UK politicians, which he stated additional undermine firms’ willingness to spend money on the North Sea.
He stated: “The UK’s total lack of an energy policy is completely irresponsible.
“Whilst the rest of the world is encouraging local oil and gas production, the UK seems intent on destroying it through high taxes and disincentives, making us totally reliant on overseas supplies and losing billions in potential revenue.
“The rest of the world has understood that we will need oil and gas for the next 30 years and is incentivising production through sensible taxation.
“The UK is doing the opposite and seems intent on rapidly destroying North Sea production through a mixture of negative comments and punitive windfall taxes.”
Sir Jim made his remarks on the day it emerged the North Sea Transition Authority had granted manufacturing and growth consent for the Rosebank oil discipline north-west of Shetland.
The discipline is believed to comprise as much as 350 million barrels of oil and is presently regarded as one of many largest untapped finds in UK waters.
Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho stated: “The jobs and billions of pounds this is worth to our economy will enable us to have greater energy independence, making us more secure against tyrants like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.
“We will continue to back the UK’s oil and gas industry to underpin our energy security, grow our economy and help us deliver the transition to cheaper, cleaner energy.”
