Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s energy empire has pulled all investment in Britain to focus on its United States operations as it hit out at Labour’s tax raid on North Sea oil and gas production.
Brian Gilvary, the chairman of the Ineos Energy division, said the company was diverting all spending to the US, and has already recently invested £3bn there.
Ineos was forced to shut down the Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland this year after 100 years of operation.
The company has also warned that its adjacent Olefins and Polymers (O&P) plant, which manufactures products used by hundreds of UK plastic companies, is also under threat because of high taxes and energy prices.
Sir Jim, the billionaire industrialist who also owns Manchester United, has warned that Britain’s high energy prices, mostly caused by green levies, are making such plants impossible to run profitably.
Mr Gilvary said: “We have stopped investing in Britain. Our future investment will not be [in] the UK. There’s no question of that.
“The problem is that the UK has become one of the most unstable fiscal regimes in the world from a perspective of natural resources and energy.
“It means we cannot invest with any certainty because we can’t be sure what future tax rates will be.”
It comes after the boss of Octopus Energy backed calls for the UK to restart drilling for oil and gas, adding to pressure on Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, who halted all new exploration licences within days of taking office.
Greg Jackson, the chief executive of Octopus, said exploiting North Sea resources was more environmentally friendly than relying on costly foreign imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which generate more emissions than domestically produced energy.
Donald Trump has urged Sir Keir Starmer to take advantage of the North Sea basin, saying it could help deliver “far lower energy costs for the people”.
Mr Gilvary said Ineos is now focusing investment in the US as it has a more stable tax regime and favourable energy security policies.
He added: “For us, the future lies in other countries, mostly the United States. The United States has got a long track record. In the 1990s, it was producing 6.5 million barrels of oil a day and importing five million, but now it’s producing oil and gas equivalent to 13 million barrels a day and exporting. That’s proper energy security and a proper fiscal regime.
“The United States absolutely understands the importance of domestic supplies and how you can drive economic growth off the back of it, so that that’s the place where we’ll be.”
Ineos Energy operates the Breagh and Clipper South platform in the North Sea, 60 miles east of Teesside and has an interest in the Greater Laggan area gas fields. The gas they produce goes directly into the UK gas transmission system, supporting homes, businesses and industry.
It also has gas platforms in Danish waters, where it is also investing in the Greensand carbon capture and storage project.
However, like other UK offshore operators, Ineos’s operations have been hit hard by the windfall tax on oil and gas profits, first imposed by the previous Conservative government at 75pc and raised to 78pc by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor.
A separate Ineos subsidiary also runs the massive Forties Pipeline System, which carries oil and gas from around 80 offshore fields back to UK shores.
It has seen volumes plummet as the companies it serves also cut investment and move assets from the North Sea. It too reported a loss in its last accounts.
Ineos Energy completed its latest US deal in April, buying oil and gas assets in the US Gulf from the China National Offshore Oil Corporation which raised its capital spending commitment on energy assets to more than $3bn (£2.2bn).
Britain’s industrial electricity prices are the highest in Europe, with official data showing costs rose from 14.8p per kilowatt hour in January 2021 to 26.0p at the end of 2024 – a 75pc rise.
Similarly, industrial gas prices more than doubled from 2.5p per kilowatt hour to 5.5p over the same period.
Even over that very short period, those high energy prices – which are up to five times greater than in the US and three times higher than in the EU – have had a devastating impact, driving the output of energy-intensive industries down by 33pc.
A Treasury spokesperson said: “We know that oil and gas will be with us for decades to come. We will manage the transition to clean energy in a balanced way that helps communities, creates jobs and supports workers to reskill.
“The Energy Profits Levy [windfall tax] will end by March 31 2030 at the latest, and we are working with leaders from the sector to discuss the system after that.”
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