Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Liability shifting (spin-offs, bankruptcy, closure bonds) · United Kingdom · 2013–2024

North Sea platform decommissioning tax relief (UK)

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 2 none on record · 1 insufficient · 1 not measured See the gaps

UK tax law lets oil and gas operators recover part of the cost of dismantling North Sea platforms. The regulator estimated the remaining cost to the Exchequer at GBP 10.8 billion.

GBP 10.8 billion estimateRemaining Exchequer cost of decommissioning (NSTA estimate, Dec 2024)
On a central estimate of GBP 43 billion total cost (2023 prices); down from GBP 21.8 billion in April 2023.

Status As of December 2024: NSTA estimate of GBP 10.8 billion remaining Exchequer cost; no ruling or enforcement found.

What?
Tax relief for the cost of decommissioning North Sea oil and gas infrastructure. North Sea Transition Authority
Where?
UK North Sea.
When?
Relief deeds from 2013; estimates 2019-2024. North Sea Transition Authority
Who?
Gained
Lost
Harmed
None on record
Why?
not on record.
How?
Repayments and reduced tax take under UK tax law. North Sea Transition Authority
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Under UK tax law, operators can claim relief on the cost of decommissioning North Sea oil and gas infrastructure; decommissioning relief deeds date from 2013.

The regulator's central estimate of the total cost was GBP 43 billion in 2023 prices, from 2024. The Exchequer cost, as set out in the NSTA estimates of December 2024 and attributed in the sources reviewed to HMRC, was GBP 10.8 billion, made up of GBP 5.7 billion in repayments and GBP 5.1 billion in reduced tax take. The earlier estimate was GBP 21.8 billion in April 2023.

In 2019 Environment Analyst, reporting on the National Audit Office, reported that North Sea oil and gas decommissioning would cost the UK government GBP 24 billion.

  1. 2013Decommissioning relief deeds introduced (UK tax law)
  2. 2019NAO estimate reported: GBP 24 billion cost to government (Environment Analyst)
  3. 2023April: Exchequer cost estimate GBP 21.8 billion
  4. 2024December: NSTA estimate of GBP 10.8 billion remaining Exchequer cost

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

    Recorded

    Who gained

    Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

    Reached nature or the ground

    Not published
    No figure published.

    Gained elsewhere

    £10.8bn
    As stated in the sources reviewed.
    Exchequer cost: repayments£5.7bn
    Exchequer cost: reduced tax take£5.1bn
    Currency: GBP · Window: 2024 estimate. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What nature saw

    Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

    Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

    Ecological assessment
    None in sources reviewed
    the sources reviewed give fiscal figures only.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
    No court caseNo independent ecological evaluation

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.

    Court

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported in a secondary source but not independently verified: relief is typically 30-40% of costs.
    • None on record Reasons for the fall in the Exchequer estimate from GBP 21.8 billion to GBP 10.8 billion: not on record.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not applicable in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    the sources reviewed give the UK Exchequer as bearing GBP 10.8 billion through repayments and reduced tax receipts.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project✓ Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Government and regulators

    Press and investigations

    1. North Sea O&G decommissioning to cost UK government GBP 24bn
      Environment Analyst (reporting the NAO) · 2019

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    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
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