North Sea oil and gas sector losing thousands of jobs, survey shows
Cost-cutting and mergers still hitting industry despite recovery in the oil price
Adam Vaughan
@adamvaughan_uk
03.39 EDT First published on Wed 2018 01.01 EDT
Britain’s North Sea energy sector is still shedding thousands of jobs despite the recovery in the oil price, according to new figures.
The industry had already been hollowed out by the 2014-16 oil price slump, falling from a peak of nearly 500,000 employed in 2014 to 315,000 at the end of last year. But data from the Oil & Gas UK, the trade body, shows a further 13,000 jobs linked to the sector were lost in the first half of 2017.
The bulk of the employment is indirect jobs, in the supply chain and services such as hotels and restaurants.
Oil & Gas UK said this year’s contraction, which has continued despite the price of a barrel of oil costing a third more than a year before, was the result not just of cost-cutting, but nearly $6bn worth of mergers and acquisitions.