Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of domestic energy production, including North Sea activity, on levels of imported energy.

The North Sea is a highly mature basin, and its natural decline would not be reversed by further licensing. New licences awarded in the last decade have made only a marginal difference to overall oil and gas production.

Further exploration and production licences would not meaningfully increase UK production levels, nor would they change the UK’s status as a net importer of oil and gas.