A FRENCH oil and gas giant has shut down a North Sea hub, which will affect the UK's oil and gas supply, amid concerns over the windfall tax.
Following the Windfall tax announcement by the UK government, Total Energy announced at the end of last year, the closure of the Gryphon terminal.
Introduced in November, the windfall tax will remain in place until March 2030, raising the tax rate for oil companies.
The tax is designed to address the profits of energy companies that have benefitted from high prices, particularly during periods of global energy crises and help control household gas and electricity bills.
On New Year’s Day, Total Energy stopped production at the Gryphon terminal, a giant floating production, storage, and offloading ship (FPSO) anchored 200 miles off the coast of Aberdeen.
This means it will directly affect the output from five North Sea fields that Gryphon processed.
This shutdown, caused by concerns over the Government's windfall tax, affects about 2% of the UK's oil and gas supply. As a result, the Treasury is expected to lose £150 million in tax revenue.
The situation reflects the growing tensions between energy companies and the government over the windfall tax policy.
Patrick Harvie, Scottish Greens co-leader said that “anything that prevents the extraction of millions of barrels of fossil fuel” is welcomed considering the climate emergency.
"It’s not clear if the UK’s windfall tax is the reason for this decision - after all it’s a small tax on the eye-watering profits of some of the biggest fossil fuel companies in the world.
“But if it has played a role in accelerating the decline of an industry responsible for putting the world in such imminent danger, that’s something to celebrate."
Harvie declared that the Scottish Greens would like to “go further with the windfall tax” closing all the loopholes “that still actively encourage companies to drill even more of our North Sea”.
“Looking to the future, we cannot allow so much of our energy sector to be left in the hands of the oil and gas giants."
Harvie explains that to secure energy security, Scotland needs to invest “in home grown clean, green renewable energy rather than doubling down on polluting industries that are in long-term decline and doing terrible damage to the world around us".
On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, president-elect Donald Trump expressed his disappointment with the UK’s Government's decision to retreat from oil and gas.
Trump, a strong supporter of fossil fuels with his "drill, baby, drill" mantra, criticised the UK government's decision, stating he would prefer the windmills to be removed from the UK's shores.
Trump’s reaction follows Apache’s decision, a Texas-based oil company, to end its operations in the North Sea by 2029.
