George Osborne - an extra menace to Britain's oil supplies!

George Osborne's policies have already resulted in a real slow-down in exploration activity in the British sector of the North Sea. Brilliantly mistimed and breathtakingly ignorant as it was when first announced his extra tax decisions appear ever more mistaken as the threat from Iran in the Straits of Hormuz pushes the oil markets to daily higher prices.

IP Dinner week in London has exacerbated these concerns, according to a report this evening from Reuters, linked here, where reading between the lines of the report, it appears that the stubborness of ministers and their civil servants in interpreting the exact requirements for the decommissioning of old fields is likely to so add to oil industry costs, such that new developments could once again be further discouraged!

Yet more useless wind turbines anyone?