North Sea producers expand overseas as BP seeks UK upstream exit

BP has put its entire UK North Sea oil and gas business on the market as part of a $20 billion portfolio reshaping, while independent producers with substantial exposure to the basin are expanding abroad, OilPrice.com reported. BP’s operations produced about 117,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2025, approximately 5% of its global output, and employed around 1,100 people.

The planned disposal follows UK North Sea exits by Exxon Mobil and Chevron, while Shell and TotalEnergies have transferred assets into joint ventures. According to OilPrice.com, basin production has fallen from roughly 4.5 million boe/d around the start of the millennium to about 1 million boe/d. The outlet also identified repeated policy changes and regulatory uncertainty as factors behind the majors’ retreat.

UK upstream profits currently face a headline tax rate of 78%, including the 38% Energy Profits Levy. Its proposed replacement, the Oil and Gas Revenue Levy, would impose a 35% charge on revenues above thresholds of $90 a barrel for oil and 90p a therm for gas. Below those prices, producers would face the 40% base profit-tax rate. The replacement is scheduled for March 2030, although Offshore Energies UK wants implementation brought forward to January 2027.

Harbour Energy has already reduced its reliance on Britain through its $11.2 billion purchase of Wintershall Dea’s upstream portfolio, excluding Russia, in 2024. OilPrice.com said the acquisition more than doubled production. Harbour reported first-half 2026 output of 509,000 boe/d, with its overseas development pipeline including a 15% interest in Argentina’s SESA LNG project and the Zama and Kan discoveries in Mexico.

EnQuest agreed in June to acquire interests in four Malaysian offshore production-sharing contracts for up to $833 million. On a 2025 pro forma basis, the transaction would take group output to approximately 100,000 boe/d and reduce unit production costs by about 35% to $16/boe, the report said. Completion is expected on 31 December.

Ithaca Energy, meanwhile, agreed in early October to buy Suncor’s offshore Newfoundland interests for $860 million upfront, with up to $250 million in additional Brent-linked payments. Closing is expected in the first half of 2027. In Britain, Ithaca retains a 20% stake in Rosebank, whose original consent was quashed over its treatment of combustion emissions. OilPrice.com cited chair Yaniv Friedman’s warning to the Financial Times that further UK investment would probably stop without government approval.