Category: 3. Business

The UK oil and gas industry suffered its worst ever year for exploration in 2025, with investment set to plunge further, as companies shelved plans in the North Sea while they waited for clarity on the government’s tax plans.

Wood Mackenzie, the energy consultancy, said no exploration wells were drilled in UK waters this year, the first time there has been no fresh exploration activity in the basin since oil and gas was found there in the 1960s.

Investment, which was £4.4bn in 2025, is set to fall more than 40 per cent to just over £2.5bn next year, marking the lowest level since the UK oil industry was buffeted by high costs, industrial strife and rampant inflation in the early 1970s.

“Drilling is at an all-time low,” said Gail Anderson, Wood Mackenzie research director for the North Sea, who expects the number of North Sea operators to shrink further as consolidation continues, driven by a headline tax rate of 78 per cent.

While there was no new exploration, 36 appraisal and development wells were drilled in the North Sea, although this is half the figure for 2020, the first year of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Activity was terrible in 2025 because there was so much uncertainty,” said Martin Copeland, chief financial officer at North Sea oil and gas producer Serica.

However, executives and analysts said that while 2025 and 2026 likely marked a nadir, investment in UK waters would pick up in anticipation of a more generous tax regime that starts in 2030.

The UK North Sea is in long-term decline, with production falling from a peak of about 2.3mn barrels of oil a day in 1983 to 530,000 b/d, according to government data.

The oil majors that once operated there have sold down, merged their assets or exited entirely to pursue more lucrative opportunities, leaving the basin in the hands of smaller independent companies.

The industry blames the energy profits levy (EPL), introduced by the previous Conservative government in 2022, for accelerating the fall. The levy imposes an additional 35 per cent tax on profits when oil prices exceed $76 a barrel or gas prices go above 59p a therm. 

Oil has traded below the threshold for most of 2025, but gas exceeded 140p a therm early in the year and has remained well above the level that triggers the levy. 

Official forecasts show that EPL tax receipts are set to plunge from £2.9bn in 2024-25 to £300mn in 2029-30, as companies optimise their tax strategy or leave the basin.  

“It’s the worst of the fiscal environments among all the countries that [we] operate in,” said Linda Cook, chief executive of Harbour Energy, one of the North Sea’s largest producers, adding that the UK industry was competing with “one arm tied behind its back”.

The Labour government has said that from 2030, when the EPL expires, additional tax will only be levied on revenues on oil sold above $90 a barrel and gas at 90p a therm.

“What has replaced the EPL is a very pragmatic system which will work for all parties,” said James Midgley, an oil and gas research analyst at Cavendish, adding that companies could start investing from 2027 in order to start production in 2030.

Copeland said Serica would target “quick and easy” opportunities for now, saying there were “probably things companies can do that are economically sensible and good for our shareholders”. But he also said the UK government had “missed a trick” by using the North Sea to drive economic growth.

But Cook at Harbour said the UK remained a hostile environment for oil and gas investment. Recent projects such as Equinor’s Rosebank development and Shell’s Jackdaw field have been hit by legal cases and the government has yet to rule on whether they can proceed.

“Every other country, when I visit, asks us what they can do to encourage us to invest more. In the UK, the discussion always feels like the opposite. I continue to struggle to understand why, as long as the UK needs oil and gas, it does not choose to be supportive of producing it domestically,” said Cook.

The UK government said it had set out a plan to build a “prosperous and sustainable future for the North Sea — with record investment to grow clean energy industries, while supporting the management of existing oil and gasfields” during the transition to green energy.

“We know oil and gas will be with us for decades to come, which is why a new permanent windfall tax will replace EPL when it ends, giving the sector and its investors the long-term certainty to plan, invest and support jobs.”

The concept has been discussed for decades: a public-access port in Sault Ste. Marie that could unleash the economic potential of our waterway access.

A new feasibility study is nearly complete, thanks to funding from the federal government. And this fall, the city and the Hamilton Oshawa Port Authority announced a partnership for the proposed multimodal marine port, which the vision of connecting northern Ontario’s resources with southern Ontario’s industry.

“It would be huge for the community,” said Mayor Matthew Shoemaker, during a recent interview in our SooToday studio. “It would use our maritime resources, our waterway access, as an asset that we haven’t used in the past.”

Shoemaker said the port concept is especially timely, in light of the pending layoffs at Algoma Steel.

“Developing additional capacity in the system would not only help those industries that are currently here, but it would also help attract industries that need water access to be able to get their products either into the Northern Ontario landscape or out of the Northern Ontario landscape,” he said. “That’s the potential that the port represents.”

You can watch the full interview HERE.

 

The Automobile Association believes a proposed merger between two fuel companies should drive down pump prices.

NPD and Gull want to combine sites, teams and supply chains to form what they say would be the largest independent, majority New Zealand-owned fuel company.

The proposal is subject to Commerce Commission approval.

The South Island-based Sheridan family would own half of the new company, with Barry Sheridan – current NPD owner and chief executive – to become the head of the new company.

Australasian private equity firm Allegro Funds, which owns Gull, would hold the other half.

In a joint statement, NPD and Gull said each of their combined 240 sites would retain their distinctive brand.

AA principal policy advisor Terry Collins said both companies had a low-cost business model.

“What that means is that the savings are passed onto customers. When Gull first arrived with that model in New Zealand it became known as the Gull effect because it dropped the prices and competitors had to match it,” he said.

“Now you’ve got two strong companies with a similar model seeking to merge their business and utilise their assets a lot more efficiently. If they do that, then we’ll obviously see lower prices as they pass them on, but how much savings they can make and pass on is yet to be seen.”

Collins believed merging would be a smart business move for both companies.

“Basically it secures their supply for the company, and it also has the synergy of their own terminal in Mount Maunganui that Gull had and all the freight and trucking logistics in the South Island that NPD did,” he said.

“Gull was owned by an investment company out of Australia and NPD is a family-owned operator, so they’ve got two sharp kind of management teams together who have known their business for a long time.”

Collins noted that over this holiday period, generally all the oil companies seemed to be making excessive margins.

“We’ve been tracking the price of fuel for the last couple of months and we’re watching as the international landed prices dropped, the retail prices haven’t dropped at the same level,” he said.

“I think what they need to be doing is drop some of those prices more. Fuel in the first quarter of next year should be much cheaper unless something major geopolitically happens.

“The price of oil has been below US$60 at some stages and we want to see those savings passed on to our motorists.”

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KARACHI:

Pakistan’s fintech sector has made visible progress in expanding digital access over the past decade, but industry leaders and development partners increasingly warn that the country’s real challenge lies not in onboarding users, but in converting access into everyday usage. An Asian Development Bank (ADB) assessment of the digital finance landscape notes that while millions now hold mobile wallets, cash continues to dominate daily transactions due to affordability concerns, trust deficits, uneven infrastructure and regulatory frictions.

“The real challenge for fintech in Pakistan is moving from access to everyday usage,” said Khayyam Siddiqi, Head of Communication and Customer Care at JazzCash. “Digital payments only replace cash when they are affordable, trusted and embedded in daily life.” With over 55 million customers, processing more than 13 million transactions a day and handling Rs15 trillion in value during 2025, JazzCash reflects the scale fintech has already achieved. Yet Siddiqi’s remarks underline a broader industry concern: scale alone does not guarantee behavioural change.

One of the most persistent challenges is users’ cost sensitivity. For low-income households and small merchants, even marginal transaction fees can discourage digital payments, according to the ADB report ‘Unlocking the Potential of Fintech in Central Asia’, December 2025. Cash, despite its inefficiencies, is still perceived as “free”, immediate and reliable. Until digital transactions consistently undercut cash in both cost and convenience, adoption is likely to remain transactional rather than habitual.

Trust is another major constraint. While awareness of digital wallets has improved, concerns over fraud, data misuse and failed transactions continue to limit user confidence. Cybersecurity incidents, phishing attempts and social engineering scams have disproportionately affected first-time users, particularly in underserved and low-literacy segments. Industry analysts argue that without stronger consumer protection frameworks, effective dispute resolution mechanisms and sustained public awareness campaigns, trust gaps will persist.

Infrastructure bottlenecks further complicate the picture. Reliable mobile internet coverage remains uneven, especially outside major urban centres. Frequent network disruptions, slow internet speeds and electricity outages directly affect transaction reliability, reinforcing users’ preference for cash. For merchants, unreliable connectivity translates into lost sales, making them reluctant to fully commit to digital acceptance.

Interoperability across platforms is another structural weakness. Despite regulatory efforts, Pakistan’s digital payments ecosystem remains fragmented, with wallets, banks and merchants often operating in silos. Limited interoperability reduces network effects, forcing users to maintain multiple wallets or revert to cash when counterparties use different platforms. This fragmentation also raises costs for merchants, who must manage multiple QR codes or settlement arrangements.

Regulatory complexity poses additional challenges, particularly for innovation beyond basic payments. While the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has introduced electronic money institution (EMI) regulations and digital banking frameworks, compliance costs remain high for startups. Lengthy approval processes and overlapping regulatory jurisdictions can slow product launches, discouraging experimentation in areas such as micro-investments, embedded finance and open banking.

Access to capital is another constraint for fintech firms seeking to scale responsibly. Venture funding has moderated amid global tightening in financial conditions, making it harder for startups to absorb regulatory costs, invest in cybersecurity and expand infrastructure. Smaller players, in particular, struggle to compete with large, well-capitalised platforms backed by telecom operators or banks.

Beyond commercial use cases, fintech’s role in government-to-person (G2P) payments highlights both opportunity and challenge. Digital wallets have become critical channels for welfare disbursements, enabling greater transparency and reducing leakages. Siddiqi noted that such payments help drive scale and trust by familiarising beneficiaries with digital transactions. However, sustaining usage beyond welfare receipts remains difficult, as many users cash out immediately rather than transact digitally.

Financial literacy remains a cross-cutting issue. While onboarding numbers continue to rise, understanding of digital financial products is limited. Users often lack clarity on fees, security practices and the benefits of retaining funds digitally. Without sustained literacy initiatives, fintech risks remaining a payments utility rather than a gateway to broader financial inclusion.

The transition from payments to more advanced services such as digital lending, insurance and investments also faces constraints. Risk assessment for underserved populations remains data-poor, increasing default risks and limiting product depth. Regulatory caution around consumer protection, while necessary, further slows innovation in these segments.

Despite these challenges, industry players remain cautiously optimistic. Digital platforms are expanding nationwide merchant and agent networks, now exceeding one million touchpoints, to embed digital payments into daily commerce across urban and underserved communities. As users grow more comfortable, providers are gradually layering additional services to support broader financial participation.

The ADB’s emphasis on inclusion-led fintech growth suggests that Pakistan’s next phase will depend less on headline user numbers and more on system-wide trust, affordability and reliability. Until digital payments become cheaper than cash, more reliable than informal channels and universally accepted across platforms, Pakistan’s fintech revolution will remain a work in progress rather than a fully cashless transformation.

NEW YORK:

Wall Street ended a light-volume post-Christmas session nearly unchanged on Friday, with few catalysts to fuel much conviction one way or the other. All three major US stock indexes closed nominally lower, snapping a five-session rally, but logged weekly gains.

“We had a very strong five-day rally, so in a way we’re just simply catching our breath today (Friday) after the holiday,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha. “This is only day two of the official Santa Claus rally period, so we still have some time, and we think there’s going to be a little more upward bias going forward.”

Market participants watched for signs of a seasonal phenomenon called the “Santa Claus rally,” in which the S&P 500 advances through the last five trading days of the current year and the first two in the new one, a period that began on Wednesday and will run through January 5. Such a rally would bode well for stock performance in 2026.

Just three trading days remain in a turbulent year in which tariff jitters, simmering geopolitical tensions and the rapid growth of artificial intelligence-related momentum stocks took investors on a bumpy ride, but one in which the three major indexes are on track to register double-digit percentage gains.