Oil and chemical spills at sea

Summary

That this House expresses concern that between 2011 and 2015 over 2,200 tonnes of oil and over 7,000 tonnes of chemicals were polluted into our seas by UK oil and gas operations; recognises the harms caused to a wide range of marine life from commercial fish stocks to threatened harbour porpoises; notes that water companies have for many years pumped sewage into our seas with few consequences and oil and gas companies are now doing the same with oil and chemicals; further notes that civil penalties for illegal oil pollution events are capped at £50,000, which is a level far below any meaningful deterrent, with the cap introduced to align with regulations on land, yet the cap on land was lifted in 2023; also notes that a one tonne spill on land in England could therefore bring an unlimited penalty, but a 1,000 tonne spill at sea would be capped at £50,000, and the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning, or OPRED, must be satisfied to a disproportionately high bar that there is enough evidence for a criminal prosecution before issuing a civil penalty; and calls on the Government to tackle this pollution by bringing forward a ban on all new exploration licences for oil and gas as soon as possible and strengthen regulation at sea with OPRED empowered to be satisfied only on the ‘balance of probabilities’ to impose uncapped penalties for this unacceptable ocean pollution.

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Timeline

1. 20 October 2026

   Early Day Motion

   That this House expresses concern that between 2011 and 2015 over 2,200 tonnes of oil and over 7,000 tonnes of chemicals were polluted into our seas by UK oil and gas operations; recognises the harms caused to a wide range of marine life from commercial fish stocks to threatened harbour porpoises; notes that water companies have for many years pumped sewage into our seas with few consequences and oil and gas companies are now doing the same with oil and chemicals; further notes that civil penalties for illegal oil pollution events are capped at £50,000, which is a level far below any meaningful deterrent, with the cap introduced to align with regulations on land, yet the cap on land was lifted in 2023; also notes that a one tonne spill on land in England could therefore bring an unlimited penalty, but a 1,000 tonne spill at sea would be capped at £50,000, and the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning, or OPRED, must be satisfied to a disproportionately high bar that there is enough evidence for a criminal prosecution before issuing a civil penalty; and calls on the Government to tackle this pollution by bringing forward a ban on all new exploration licences for oil and gas as soon as possible and strengthen regulation at sea with OPRED empowered to be satisfied only on the ‘balance of probabilities’ to impose uncapped penalties for this unacceptable ocean pollution.

   Source: Early Day Motion

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Sponsors

• Wera Hobhouse · Liberal Democrat · Primary sponsor

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