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Press and Journal
13-05-2025
- Business
- Press and Journal
Anger mounts after latest Aberdeen oil and gas job cuts
As the dust settles from another round of job losses at Aberdeen firm Harbour Energy, the voices of those directly and indirectly affected are growing louder – and angrier. Aberdeen residents, North Sea veterans, engineers, and industry leaders are expressing deep concern that the UK Government's windfall tax is hollowing out the city's workforce, while Westminster remains detached from the human cost. 'People are sad, they are worried – but no one is surprised,' said Kerry Smyth, Harbour Energy technical support manager, after the firm axed another 250 jobs last week. It brings the total redundancies at Harbour alone to 600 in just two years – and follows a series of cuts across the energy industry in recent weeks. The culprit, she says, is clear: the UK Government's Energy Profits Levy, which imposes a 78% tax on profits from oil and gas production in UK water. Online her comments struck a chord and sparked a wave of reaction, not just from energy workers, but from a city that increasingly feels abandoned. William Elliott voiced concern about the knock-on effect: '600 well-paying jobs in Harbour means spending power of those 600 people in their local community is gone. Quadruple the job losses and you might get somewhere near.' Others pointed to the consequences already playing out in the region. Fergus Stewart, a senior engineer at Wood, asked: 'How many of the laid-off personnel will go to the Middle East, taking their tax revenue and spending power out of the UK?' Nana Morrison said the oil and gas job cuts have a 'negative impact on the whole community'. Tech entrepreneur Elizabeth Clark, who recently returned to the city for her father's funeral, was taken aback by how much Aberdeen had changed: 'In the 80s and 90s it was buzzing. Now there's hardly any shops or people. 'We did oil and gas brilliantly and exported our expertise all over the world. I don't know how it will recover from this.' For Colin Burrows, it's about more than just job numbers: 'Losing the skilled trades is bad enough, but the ripple effect within the communities is also disastrous.' Mo Mansoori, a lead at NEO Energy, said: 'I personally am worried about being in a situation where domestically sourced energy will be so low that in uncertain geopolitical times such as we're facing will put the UK in a very weak position.' Many said domestic energy production is being stifled while the UK increasingly relies on imports. 'It's sad to see, switch off the taps and see how the UK operates and then the rest of the UK starts to see the hardships,' warned drilling advisor Phil Duff.
Press and Journal
09-05-2025
- Business
- Press and Journal
Harbour Energy manager hits out after Aberdeen firm slashes jobs
A Harbour Energy manager has said workers feel abandoned by the government in the wake of the Aberdeen firm announcing 250 jobs losses. On Wednesday, Harbour announced the cuts, blaming the windfall tax on profits for the decision. This brings the firm's total redundancies to 600 in two years. Kerry Smyth, a technical support manager, said it had been a 'really hard week' for workers. She said the UK Government must start listening and take responsibility for the damage it is causing to industry. 'People are sad, they're worried, but no one is surprised,' Ms Smyth said. '600 at one company, that's 600 livelihoods, mortgages and families – what we want to see from the government is that they actually care about that.' Ms Smyth said the Harbour job losses are a direct result of the UK Government's Energy Profits Levy, which imposes a 78% tax on profits from oil and gas production in UK waters. 'At Harbour Energy I see projects that just don't meet metrics anymore and assets that have to come forward in terms of cessation of production dates because they are not economic anymore,' the manager said. 'It's real. The government needs to act now before we lose the skill set we need to deliver the energy transition. 'The engineers that work in my team are highly skilled, competent individuals, perfect for taking us through an energy transition, but the jobs aren't there right now and we're losing them in the oil and gas industry.' At an emergency press conference organised by Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, Aberdeen Cyrenians chief executive Donna Hutchison warned that recent job losses in the city would fuel a further increase in child poverty, alcohol and substance-related harm and domestic violence. 'I'm all for a just transition, fair and inclusive, but I'm pretty sure it's not palatable to anybody in society to accept those risks,' she said. 'This is not just numbers on a spreadsheet, we really need to remember the humanity in this and that it really is having an impact every day on the citizens of Aberdeen.' The chamber is calling for the removal of the Energy Profits Levy before the next financial year, funding support for the Acorn Carbon Capture project, and an emergency summit between the Prime Minister and First Minister to stop further losses and accelerate clean energy jobs. Chief executive Russell Borthwick warned the UK is deindustrialising its energy capital and accused the government of failing to deliver on promises to protect jobs during the transition to net zero. 'This is not a region that needs bailouts,' he said, 'just a tweak in some sensible regulatory and tax policy now will safeguard jobs, create jobs, allow acceleration of the energy transition.' Climate tech investor Steve Gray, from Ventex Studio, said government policy was failing the UK on every metric, from economics, jobs and carbon to the pace of the energy transition. He called for a 'serious reset'. 'The biggest challenge is charging 78% tax on profits of domestic oil and gas production while you drive up imports which are untaxed and which don't pass any of our regulatory or licensing regime,' he said. New polling published by the Chamber showed 68% of UK voters back using domestic oil and gas to meet demand, with only 27% believing the windfall tax has reduced energy bills. A majority view the tax as ineffective and unfair.
STV News
09-05-2025
- Business
- STV News
Keir Starmer urged to visit Aberdeen after oil and gas firm announce 250 job cuts
Leaders in Aberdeen have called on Keir Starmer to visit the region after plans to cut 250 jobs at Harbour Energy were confirmed. At an emergency meeting on Friday, regional leaders issued a stark warning that the Granite City will see an increase in child poverty and alcohol and drug problems if jobs continue to be lost in the North Sea. 'The UK Government promised that its approach to North Sea energy sector would not cost jobs,' Russell Borthwick, the chief executive of the Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, who called the emergency meeting, said. 'We brought you together today because it's our view that this promise has now been broken. In the past fortnight alone, nearly 600 energy jobs have been put at risk in this region.' The meeting comes just days after Harbour Energy, the largest independent oil and gas firm in the North Sea, announced that it plans to cut 250 jobs by the end of the year due to the UK Government's Energy Profits Levy (known as the windfall tax) on North Sea operators. It also follows the several hundred jobs lost at subsea engineering supply chain firms across the North-east in the last ten days. Mr Borthwick called these losses a 'flashing red warning light' for UK energy security. By calling the meeting, he wished to send a 'clear message' to the UK Government that 'enough is enough'. STV News Leaders in Aberdeen called an 'emergency' meeting on Friday over the impending 250 Harbour Energy job losses announced earlier this week – calling on the Prime Minister to visit the region. Speaking to STV News after the meeting, Mr Borthwick urged the UK Labour Government to 'take cognisance' of the impact the windfall tax is having on the lives and livelihoods of people in the North East of Scotland, 'because of current policies being pursued in the direction of net-zero'. 'It's not just 250 jobs at Harbour Energy – it's 250 on top of the 350 lost in the last couple of weeks from supply chain companies, which are failing because there's no work in the North Sea,' he said. 'The Climate Change Committee told us in a report in February that a third of all oil and gas employment has been lost in Aberdeen since 2015. It's a crisis, but no one is talking about it.' Mr Borthwick added: 'Thousands of people have already lost their jobs and it's just the tip of the iceberg.' Kerry Smyth, a Harbour Energy employee in Aberdeen, is one of many people who could be impacted by the job cuts. STV News Kerry Smyth, a Harbour Energy in Aberdeen, is one of many people who could be impacted by the job cuts. She, along with her colleagues, was called to a meeting on Wednesday and told of the job cuts. 'We've already experienced a significant number of job losses in the last couple of years, so to hear another 25% of our workforce – 250 jobs – will be going before the end of this year was hard to take, but not unexpected,' Smyth told STV News. She described feeling 'uncertain, worried, concerned, sad, and frustrated' by the announcement on Wednesday, and she laid the blame at the UK Government's door. Ms Smyth said people are concerned about their lives, livelihoods, mortgages, families, and children in the wake of the announcement. 'It's real, and the government needs to take accountability for this because it is directly as a result of policy,' she said. 'I was really disappointed with the Prime Minister's response to this at PMQs on Wednesday and the lack of care for the people of Aberdeen. They need to act now to save the industry and help us support the energy transition with the right skill set.' Ms Smyth added that the Green energy sector hasn't ramped up to the extent it can provide jobs to people who are being laid off from the oil and gas industry. 'There's a chasm where we don't have enough oil and gas to make up the energy mix, so we're going to have to be importing from other countries,' Ms Smyth said. 'It's really frustrating that we're losing jobs only to import at higher cost and at higher emissions impact.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
