Shell pledges long-term commitment to North Sea oil Ed Daniels says in an interview in The Daily Telegraph that the UK arm of Royal Dutch Shell, will continue to have a major presence in North Sea production, despite suggestions by commentators that the larger companies will wind down their activities, leaving the area's mature oil and gas fields to niche specialist players and sovereign wealth funds. "There's a misperception that oil majors, Shell included, are not particularly interested in the North Sea," Mr Daniels said. Actually, that's just not true. We at Shell are a big North Sea producer today, representing 14pc of UK oil. We're investing £2bn a year in the North Sea, either in new developments or refurbishment of existing activities to re-life them for the next 10 and 20 years. We see that there is a material presence for Shell in the North Sea for years to come. I think the North Sea as a province has decades of activity. His comments came as new research showed that 40pc of companies in the North Sea produce no oil. According to a study by advisory firm Hannon Westwood, of the 131 companies operating in the area, 55 have no reserves. The North Sea is set to produce just 1.5m barrels a day this year, a record low. At its peak, it produced 4.5m barrels annually. However, Mr Daniels said Shell is making investments that are "20-plus years in duration." To encourage investment, he stressed that the UK needs a stable tax regime. "The 2011 raid on taxes was a real disappointment and very destabilising for long-term investments in the North Sea," he said. I do believe that the Government has remedied that. He also raised concerns about the Government's immigration policy, saying it was vital that universities are able to bring in talented students from overseas so companies can hire sufficiently skilled graduates. It does touch a little on the well rehearsed debate on immigration. For us it's about making sure the universities are allowed to bring in the students to bolster capability around innovation," he said. We've made our views on that clear to the Government.