ACTIVITY SURVEY 2014
page 4
Given this troubling picture, Sir Ian Wood’s Review is, to say the least, a timely intervention. Sir Ian proposes the
creation of a new, appropriately resourced, arm’s length regulator and recommends that industry, the Department
of Energy & Climate Change and HM Treasury adopt a tripartite approach to Maximising Economic Recovery on a
new collaborative basis across the UKCS. He also sets out his ideas on the strategies which we should now adopt.
There is very strong support across industry for this new paradigm. Given this, and trusting that government is
also minded to embrace this fundamental change in approach, there can be real grounds to believe the decline
of recent years will be arrested and we will again enjoy sustainable growth in investment, jobs and production.
But let us not fool ourselves, this will not be achieved without much hard work and dedication to radical change
and sustained improvement, which will be required of us all, in both the industry and government – and there is
no time to lose. We need to implement these changes without delay. The clock is ticking.
Malcolm Webb
Chief Executive, Oil & Gas UK
