Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, in the next two years, how many new oil and gas licences his Department will examine and what proportion he estimates will be approved; and what assessment he has made of the impact of licensing policy on the future viability of existing North Sea infrastructure.

The Government will legislate to meet its landmark manifesto commitment to end new licences to explore new oil and gas fields.

To support existing fields and infrastructure, the Government will introduce new Transitional Energy Certificates for a managed, prosperous and orderly transition.

The evidence suggests that even if new licenses were issued it would have only a marginal impact on overall production in the North Sea given it is a super mature basin which has been in decline for more than two decades.