French oil company TotalEnergies has announced it will cut back on new well spending in the North Sea next year as a direct consequence of the Government’s windfall tax raid. The North Sea operator announced last night it would withdraw a whopping £100 million from its total investment – roughly a quarter of its spending on new wells – and abandon plans to drill a new well at its gas field off the coast of Aberdeen. Just ten days after Shell announced it was considering a cut to its £25 billion investment in UK energy for exactly the same reason…

This is, of course, despite Rishi claiming it was “vital we encourage continued investment by the oil and gas industry in the North Sea” earlier this year.

And how’s that all going?

Well, Total might not be the last to tighten their belts. Norwegian oil giant Equinor are now mulling whether to scrap their £8bn Rosebank energy project as well:

“The Autumn Statement did not help investor confidence and we are evaluating the impact of the energy profits levy on our projects.”

Equinor had previously claimed the project could provide 8% of the UK’s oil production between 2026-2030. Now it may not go ahead. Still, so long as the government is going after the “super profits” of the oil and gas companies, at least Sir Keir will be happy…