Tax allowance boosts oil deal (From The Northern Echo)
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Tax allowance boosts oil deal
10:21am Wednesday 6th February 2013 in Business News
NEW DEAL: EnQuest’s Thistle helideck in the North Sea
MORE than 100 jobs could be created in the North-East after an oil and gas producer secured a deal.
EnQuest, the UK’s largest oil producer in the North Sea, has been given a brownfield tax allowance to exploit its Thistle oil field, north-east of Aberdeen.
The move will create at least 100 onshore engineering and supply chain roles in Newcastle and 1,000 posts across the UK during the next three years, while safeguarding 500 existing jobs on the North Sea.
EnQuest says it expects to invest £160m in the field from the Government allowance that allows companies to lower their tax rate on profits on existing fields with increased production.
It also hopes to install a 30- megawatt power turbine and improved control safety system.
General manager David Heslop said: “The brownfield tax allowance will allow us to embark on a new phase on Thistle and realise reserves of 35 million barrels of oil equivalent.”
