North Sea’s biggest energy producer claims UK windfall tax ‘wiped out’ surge in profit

Harbour Energy says it had to cut jobs and investment at same time as announcing new shareholder payouts taking total to $1bn

The North Sea's biggest producer has complained that the windfall tax on oil and gas companies all but wiped out" its profits last year, at the same time announcing new shareholder payouts that take the total to $1bn since the end of 2021.

Harbour Energy said on Thursday its pre-tax profits rose by nearly 700% in 2022 to $2.5bn (2.1bn) on higher production and bigger margins making it the latest oil and gas company to report a huge increase in underlying profits, after the war in Ukraine pushed up wholesale gas prices and sent household bills soaring.