BBC Question Time Leaders' Debate North Sea oil and gas claims: comment

"The geological reality of a mature North Sea basin and protecting jobs is an inevitable challenge for politicians. With roughly 90% of the North Sea’s oil and gas already extracted the basin long ago entered a period of natural, terminal decline regardless of the licensing framework in place.
 
"The long-term stability of the Scottish energy sector can only realistically be achieved by a transition toward renewables, which avoids the price volatility inherent in the global fossil fuel markets."
 

How much UK gas comes from Norway?

• Norway accounts for 76% of UK gas imports, and for around 45% of overall UK gas supply, according to the regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority.

Is the UK shutting down its oil & gas industry while Norway continues to drill?

• The UK has already used up the large majority of its North Sea resources, having extracted around 90% [2] of the oil and gas that was available. In contrast, Norway has only used up 57% of the “expected recoverable resource” from its part of the North Sea, according to official estimates published by Norwegian Petroleum. [3]

Are 1,000 oil and gas jobs in the UK being lost every month?

• The BBC [4] spoke to the Energy Transition Institute about this figure and they said they expect 600 to 800 oil and gas jobs a month to go.
• A report published by Robert Gordon University in 2025 stated that under a “low case” (or most pessimistic scenario), “[UK] oil and gas workforce numbers [drop] from 115,000 today to …57,000 by the early 2030s: a reduction of around 400 jobs … every two weeks.” This scenario “reflects significantly slower progress toward delivering a successful energy transition”, compared to the government’s current plans.
• However, RGU suggests this decline could be offset by the growth of jobs in the renewables sector, with RGU’s findings “suggest[ing] a 2030 UK offshore energy workforce demand level of between 125,000 and 163,000, compared to today’s actual workforce figure of approximately 154,000. Attaining the goals associated with the high-case [or most optimistic] scenario could see workforce demand levels exceed 200,000.”
• A 2023 report by RGU found that “over 90% of the UK’s oil and gas workforce have skills that are transferable to the offshore renewables sector.”
• Analysis suggests that new licenses would have little impact on oil and gas job losses. Campaign group Uplift found that despite the government issuing roughly 400 new oil and gas drilling licenses in 2013-2023, the number of jobs supported by the oil and gas industry fell by 227,000.

Does the UK only count for 1% of global emissions?

• Every country that accounted for between 0-1% of global annual greenhouse gas emissions – including many of the world's richest countries – together accounted for 26% of total emissions in 2024 (latest data available). China accounted for 26%. The UK remains in the top 10 countries for historic (cumulative) emissions.

Are oil and gas firms in the UK still making any windfall profits?

• New figures from Rystad Energy [5] show that the world’s top 100 oil and gas companies banked more than $30m every hour in advance profit in the first month of the US-Israeli war in Iran.
• Recent analysis [6] of shareholdings declared in annual reports and share price movements between 26 February and 27 March 2026 showed that Harbour Energy’s Linda Z Cook saw the value of her shareholding rise by more than £4 million to £26 million, Shell’s Wael Sawan added nearly £1.8 million to take his stake to £13.2 million, and Centrica boss Chris O’Shea saw the value of his shares rise by over £300,000.
• The global price of oil has hovered around $100 a barrel since the start of the US-Iran war in early March, for around seven weeks.