British oil and gas industry should pay for new regulator -government review

LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Britain's oil and gas industry should pay for the creation of a new regulator which would help companies extract as much oil and gas as possible from North Sea fields, a government-commissioned report said on Monday.

The Wood Review, the first strategy assessment of the country's oil and gas potential in more than 20 years, also said the regulator should only approve new investments if companies prove they are exploiting resources to their full.

"I believe industry will have to pay, but in return should be granted appropriate service level agreements," said Sir Ian Wood, author of the report and former chairman of oil services company Wood Group (Frankfurt: JWG1.F - news) .

Wood also recommended the regulator should enforce rules for companies to share exploration data more quickly.

The government said it fully backed the recommendations which it would implement immediately.

Some of the biggest investors in Britain's North Sea oil and gas sector include BP (LSE: BP.L - news) , Statoil (Xetra: DNQ.DE - news) and Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) .