What does the pledge mean?

This pledge appears in the energy section of Labour’s manifesto immediately after references to oil and gas, and offshore workers, and in August 2024 the government confirmed that it referred to new “oil and gas” licences specifically.

In the UK, companies need licences from the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) in order to search for and extract offshore petroleum. 

The NSTA is a non-departmental public body which is responsible for oil and gas licensing and regulation, as well as the offshore hydrogen and carbon storage industries. Until March 2022 it was known as the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA). 

The NSTA typically issues petroleum licences in rounds, which take place when it decides it is “necessary”, though some licences may be issued in an ”out-of-round process” if there are “exceptional circumstances”. 

There are two types of licence—exploration and production. The wording of the pledge refers to licences to “explore new fields”, so appears to refer to exploration licences. We’re not sure whether this means NSTA could issue an exceptional production licence without breaking the pledge—we’ve asked the government about this specific point, but it told us “more details will be set out in due course”.

The Petroleum Act 1998 states licences “shall be granted for such consideration as the OGA with the consent of the Treasury may determine”. The NSTA told Full Fact that before any licence is awarded the Secretary of State (SoS) “must give agreement on the environmental aspects of an application”, but later explained that the SoS doesn’t “need to agree to an exploration licence”. 

Guidance for the most recent round of licensing stated that the NSTA can’t award a Seaward Production Licence “unless it has first received the agreement of the SoS under the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Conservation of Habitats) Regulations 2001 (as amended)”. According to the guidance, Seaward Production Licences “cover exploration and appraisal as well as production”. 

While the pledge doesn’t specify a geographical area, the entirety of the UK’s Continental Shelf is subject to the same offshore licensing rules, so we can assume the pledge applies to the whole of the UK. 

What progress has been made?

The most recent licence was issued by the NSTA on 24 May 2024. No new exploration licences have been issued since then, so as things stand we’re rating this pledge as “appears on track”. 

The government’s August 2024 announcement said it will “consult later this year on the implementation of its manifesto position not to issue new oil and gas licences to explore new fields”, and that it will “aim to conclude its consultation by spring 2025”. It also said more details on this consultation “will be published in due course”.On 12 November 2024, the government said again it “will consult later this year on the implementation of our manifesto position not to issue new oil and gas licences to explore new fields”. 

The NSTA said, because of this, it had “paused issuing any invitation to apply for new licences (including out-of-round invitations) pending the finalisation of the process”. 

But as of early January 2025, the consultation had not yet begun, though the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero says it will do so soon.