BP has put it’s UK North Sea business up for sale as it looks to end over 60 years of production in the region.
The company’s chief executive Meg O’Neill said she believed the North Sea business would be “better positioned as part of another company” as she seeks to slim down the group by selling off parts of the business.
The move comes amid continued controversy over the government’s approach to drilling in the North Sea.
While Andy Burnham has left the door open for future North Sea drilling, Labour’s 2024 manifesto said the party would not issue new oil and gas licences in the North Sea but that it would honour existing ones.
The Conservatives blamed Labour’s “disastrous net zero dogma” for the sale, and called for the new prime minister to approve the Jackdaw and Rosebank sites.
“BP has been drilling in British waters for six decades, but because of Labour’s disastrous net zero dogma it faces extinction,” Andrew Bowie MP, shadow energy minister, said.
“Andy Burnham should break with the past do what the Conservatives have called for and immediately approve the Jackdaw and Rosebank sites and cancel their plans to ban on new licences in the North Sea.”
BP’s North Sea business has five production hubs – two in the central North Sea, and three west of Shetland – and produced 117,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025.
Some 1,100 staff work for the North Sea business, part of BP’s approximately 13,960-strong UK workforce.
BP’s chief executive Meg O’Neill said she believed the North Sea business would be “better positioned as part of another company”.
“The North Sea remains integral to the UK’s energy system,” she said.
“However, as we focus our portfolio and direct capital to our highest-value opportunities, we believe our North Sea business will be better positioned as part of another company.
“It has world-class people, resilient assets and a proud heritage, and it is precisely these qualities that can attract an owner ready to back its next chapter.
“We are seeking an outcome that recognises that value.”
The Jackdaw gasfield is east of Aberdeen and Rosebank’s oilfield is west of Shetland, and both projects are subject to consultations that are due to run until August 10 and August 17 respectively.
Mr Burnham said he told the US president that he would “take a pragmatic approach when it comes to the North Sea”, adding: “There is a resource there. When people are struggling, we can’t ignore that.”
Meanwhile. Reform UK’s shadow business, trade and energy secretary Richard Tice said the move was another “damning indictment of Britain’s failed energy strategy”.
“Years of punitive windfall taxes and ideological net stupid policies by both Labour and the Conservatives have made the UK one of the least attractive places to invest in oil and gas,” he said.
“The North Sea still has billions of barrels of oil and gas left to produce but for some bizarre reason this government prefers to import our energy from abroad.”
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst for IG, described the decision as a “watershed moment”.
“It says a lot when BP isn’t prepared to stick around to see if the new government can re-energise the UK’s energy policy,” he said.
“Clearly BP thinks it will take too long at a time when the need to exploit new energy fields is pressing, and waiting around for Whitehall to move is not a prudent use of resources.”
Meanwhile, BP is planning to cut around 700 jobs globally from its production and operations business, which is set to reduce “non-frontline” roles by about 8 per cent.
A spokeswoman for BP said: “We are building a simpler, stronger, more valuable BP.
“As part of this process, we are proposing changes that would result in a reduction in roles, intended to reduce complexity, improve accountability and support long-term performance in a changing market environment.”
