Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on UK energy import dependency of issuing no new oil and gas exploration licences.

We became a net importer of energy in 2004. Given the maturity of the basin, and the high proportion of future production projected to come from existing developments versus new developments and discoveries, further licensing in the North Sea would not reverse the basin’s natural decline.