The shocking state of offshore has been laid bare with the latest statistics from the UK on North Sea oil and gas revenues.
The UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has forecast receipts from North Sea oil and gas will be down by 94% this year to just £130m ($196m), down from £2.2bn last year.
By this September Britain’s North Sea oil and gas sector had seen some 5,500 redundancies since late last year, the country’s new Oil and Gas Authority said in a report.
Furthermore, around 90% of the oil and gas firms in the North Sea expect more job losses in the area as confidence and activity levels plumb record lows, according to a survey released this week by the Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce (AGCC).
James Bream, the AGCC’s research and policy director, commented in a statement: “The low confidence levels being reported come as no surprise and the outlook suggests there will be more pain ahead for the sector.”
