In a rushed display of Whitehall policymaking on the hoof, the Government tinkered with North Sea taxes yesterday and announced two small oilfield developments – a drop to fill the ocean that is Britain’s daily consumption of crude oil.

The changes to North Sea oil taxation were announced as the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer turned up at short notice in Aberdeen to attend a scheduled board meeting of Oil & Gas UK, an oil industry association.

The Prime Minister’s pressing concern about the tax burden suffered by North Sea oil companies came as a surprise to Britain’s oil industry, which has been lobbying the Government for years to scrap petroleum revenue tax (PRT).

“We didn’t know until this week that they wanted to come and discuss what could be done to maximise [oil] production,” an Oil & Gas UK spokesman said.

As Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling listened to the concerns of oil executives about taxes, high costs and regulation, the Department of Business hailed the Government’s plans for “increased North Sea oil production”. The department gave the go-ahead for two new oilfields, West Don and Don South West, which together would bring an extra 50,000 barrels per day ashore when the oil begins flowing next year.

In addition, the changes to the PRT regime would enable the investment that could add 20,000 barrels per day, the department said.

Good as it sounds, the extra oil will not arrest the steady decline in Britain’s oil and gas output, which averaged 2.8 million barrels per day (bpd) last year, down by about 100,000 barrels per day from 2006.

Britain’s hydrocarbon output has been in rapid decline since 2001 when it reached 4.2 million bpd, and the industry has had its wings clipped twice by tax increases introduced by Mr Brown in his previous role as Chancellor.

Yesterday the Government pointed to its decision to make minor adjustments to PRT that would carve out new oil and gasfields from existing fields, ensuring that the new developments would not be affected by the old tax.

PRT is an historic tax that was introduced in the early years of Britain’s oil boom, and now affects only mature North Sea oilfields. The industry has called for its complete abolition, arguing that it creates a disincentive for the additional investment needed to slow a declining production rate in oilfields that are approaching the end of their life.

High crude prices are stimulating more interest in oilfields that were once considered too small or too difficult to be economic. However, the cost of operating in the North Sea’s harsh environment has also soared.

The cost of construction and raw materials is rising and a scarcity of rigs capable of operating in deep waters has pushed rates to extraordinary levels, such that oil companies prefer to invest in more promising regions, such as West Africa.

The Department for Business also revealed that a recent licensing round had excited high levels of interest, with 193 applications covering 277 blocks. The response to the 25th licensing round was the highest since 1974, the year after the first Middle East oil crisis.

The Government said that it would offer 97 new licences in the 13th onshore round.

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