The UK must stop wasting gas in the North Sea before drilling for more

The UK wastes enough gas from its North Sea oilfields to heat 570,000 homes, equivalent to all the homes in South Yorkshire, our new analysis shows. 

There has been little investment by the oil and gas industry in reducing venting and flaring of waste gases, which could be captured and used instead, even though technology has been around for years to enable it.  

Where there is no infrastructure to capture it, the associated methane gas from oil drilling is either released directly into the atmosphere (vented) or burned off (flared). This differs from non-routine or safety-related gas release, which occurs during emergencies or equipment shutdowns. Around half of all offshore venting and flaring is routine.  

Not only is this wasting a resource, but it is also harmful to the environment and people, as methane is a greenhouse gas around 80 times more powerful than CO2 in the short term and methane is a precursor to ground level ozone, which exacerbates respiratory illnesses.  

New regulations and incentives should encourage companies to adopt available technologies to stop these harmful practices. The government also needs to ensure companies foot the bill, and not consumers, as they will benefit from the capture and sale of the gas.  

A potential £300 million in gas was lost in 2025
The gas lost to the atmosphere in 2025 would have been worth around £300 million at today’s prices if captured. Yet operators often still see venting and flaring as the cheaper option, because capturing the gas requires upfront investment and the costs of pollution are not fully reflected in current UK regulations. Stronger policy is needed to shift the incentives. 

Oil and gas operators in other countries are already doing it. Two things would stop gas being wasted unnecessarily by the UK: banning routine flaring earlier and taxing the pollution. 

Banning routine flaring is the single most impactful measure countries can take to reduce the gas emissions. The government has committed to end it by 2030 but could bring the date forward to 2028 in the forthcoming Energy Independence Bill to accelerate progress and curb emissions faster. The impact of a carbon tax on top of this makes further flaring reductions lucrative, as it would apply to all released gases, even for safety or maintenance reasons, encouraging companies to prevent unnecessary flaring wherever possible.  

Norway banned routine flaring over 50 years ago
Norway is among the 15 largest producers of oil globally but has recorded the lowest flaring and venting intensity of all countries reviewed by a World Bank led coalition. This has been driven by strict regulations and a ‘zero flaring’ policy since 1971 to maximise profits. This was followed by a tax in 1991, which incentivised business, as it made capturing gas more profitable than wasting it. Banning routine flaring has had other positive impacts, besides cutting methane emissions: it has cut local air pollution and reduced black carbon emissions, another contributor to climate change.  

Other countries have also shown rapid progress: Angola cut its flaring volumes by around 60 per cent between 2016 and 2021 after joining the World Bank’s Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 initiative. 

Other countries use fiscal incentives
Although the UK is a signatory of the Global Methane Pledge it hasn’t yet introduced any fiscal measures to achieve it. Taxing the gas lost would incentivise operators to stop wasting it and invest in infrastructure to capture it instead. Our analysis found that a tax equivalent to Norway’s on North Sea vented emissions would have netted almost £23 million for the Treasury in 2023. Such a tax would be unlikely to raise consumer energy prices, which are largely determined on international markets. Instead, the cost would fall to producers encouraging them to treat the gas as a valuable resource rather than a waste product.  

Other countries using tax include Nigeria which implemented a Petroleum Industry Act in 2021 with clear obligations and penalties on routine flaring and venting. Now it views the gas as a resource to exploit which has had a positive impact on its economy, attracting investors.  

With consumer costs and energy security top of the UK’s agenda, using this waste gas for energy is a sensible approach to achieving future energy independence. And it is an obvious step before considering any new drilling.