Britain’s North Sea oil and gas sector has seen some 5,500 redundancies since late last year, the country’s new Oil and Gas Authority has said in a new report.
The 55% decline in the price of Brent crude seen since last June has wreaked havoc on the sector. Shell, BP, Chevron and ConoccoPhillips are among the majors to have slashed jobs in the area, which is also one of the region’s with the highest operating costs for oil and gas extraction. Around 375,000 people are employed in the UK North Sea offshore sector.
“We should be in no doubt about the scale of the challenge ahead,” Andy Samuel, chief executive of the OGA, said.
“Irrespective of the oil price, the UK offshore oil and gas industry needs to change,” the report concluded.