The stocks making the most of the North Sea

A government set on limiting development in the North Sea has left the oil & gas sector in a funk. Major operators have said they will wind down operations in the UK, and one insider says this feels like the “final cycle”, given tax and regulatory pressures and environmental targets.

Macroeconomic trends don't help. A heavily cyclical industry will always have its ups and downs, and at the moment, prices are under pressure.  

All this said, the sector does at least now have more certainty after the Budget. For most of this year, it had been in a holding pattern: first as companies awaited an election, then in the lead-up to new chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first major fiscal statement. Share prices, not helped by lower oil and gas prices, reacted accordingly.