Houston-based Apache Corp. will end all North Sea oil and gas output by December 31, 2029, under pressure from fresh investments needed to meet new U.K. emissions-control rules and changes to levies for the industry.
Apache, which is part of APA Corp., expects its Beryl Bravo field to be the first to halt operations, likely in late 2027 or early 2028, company officials said in their Q3 earnings call. Among the tax changes for U.K. North Sea operators that took effect November 1 was a 3% rise in the self-explanatory Energy Profits Levy; the 1-year extension of this profit tax to March 2030; and the end to a 29% investment allowance which let drillers offset tax for capital that was used in reinvestments.
Apache isn’t alone in its plans to exit the U.K. sector of the North Sea upstream business. It joins Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell in steadily reducing their presence for some years, in favor of portfolios elsewhere. Note that crude from North Sea, including those from the U.K. portion, contribute to the all-important global benchmark Brent which underpins billions of dollars of trades in the oil world daily. Apache entered the North Sea business in 2003 after acquiring a roughly 97% working interest in the Forties field, a component of the dated Brent benchmark.
