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Adam Mawardi 15 May 2023 11:00pm BST Sir Jim Ratcliffe has warned that taxing the North Sea oil and gas industry “to death" threatens future investment spent on upgrading Britain’s key
pipelines. The billionaire owner of British chemical company Ineos criticised the Government's decision last year to introduce a windfall tax on North Sea producers. Speaking to the
Financial Times, Sir Jim said the Government was playing “primitive politics” when it increased the taxes from 40pc to 65pc and then 75pc. “Taxes are now so high that profits no longer fund
future investments,” he said. “What the country needs is energy security, which means encouraging developments in our strategic energy reserves in the North Sea. There has been no thought
given to the long-term consequences of this ‘tax it to death’ move.” David Bucknall, chief executive of Ineos’s energy division, said the company would instead welcome a “price floor” on the
windfall tax, which would remove the levy if oil and gas prices fall below a certain level. North Sea Oil Production Is In Decline The windfall tax was introduced by the Government to help
support British households, who faced surging energy bills because of higher wholesale oil and gas prices after Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. However, gas prices have fallen
dramatically since last summer. Sir Jim's comments follow warnings from energy majors, including Shell and Total, that the levy risks harming investment in Britain. Earlier this year,
Harbour Energy claimed earlier that windfall tax had all but wiped out its profits. The North Sea’s biggest oil producer said it was looking to grow its business outside of Britain. Chief
executive Linda Cook said higher tax rates have “disproportionately impacted” UK-focused drillers. Harbour added that it had cut its spending plans for the UK for the year, with some
opportunities “delayed or no longer being progressed”.