£15m to fund new oil and gas industry regulator

The Government has committed £15 million to help kick-start a new independent regulator for the North Sea oil and gas industry. The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) will receive £3 […]

The Government has committed £15 million to help kick-start a new independent regulator for the North Sea oil and gas industry.

The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) will receive £3 million funding for five years from 2016/17 but in the long term it will be funded by the industry itself.

It will be responsible for ensuring explorers squeeze out as much oil and gas out of Britain’s North Sea as possible.

The establishment of the regulator was announced following Sir Ian Wood’s major review of the sector, which found at least three to four billion extra barrels of oil could be produced in the next 20 years – a potential £200 million boost – if it changed the way it operates.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: “The Wood Review is good for our energy security, good for the economy and good for jobs.

“We’ve made a lot of progress in a short amount of time – in six months we have announced the new body will be located in Aberdeen, we’re recruiting for a world-class CEO and we already have the legislative framework for the new body underway.”

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