Thenew annual economic report for Oil & Gas UKdisclosed that the total number of people employed in the sector had fallen from 440,000 to 375,000 since the beginning of 2014, largely due to the crash in world oil prices.
The UK’s oil and gas industry expects to continue shedding jobs and heavily cutting its costs despite reducing its workforce by more than 65,000 in the last 20 months.
Norfolk Chamber joins Oil &GasUK in repeating its demands for further tax cuts and increased Treasury incentives to help boost investment, increase margins and cut decommissioning costs, arguing that the latest tax cuts were insufficient. The Government must listen to an industry which provides revenue for the treasury and many local jobs
The economic report forecast Brent crude prices remaining in the current range of $45-$65 a barrel “well beyond the end of 2015”.
Even with new fields such as Golden Eagle pushing up production, overall capital investment could drop by as much as £12bn over the next three years, falling from £14.8bn last year by between £2bn-£4bn a year to 2018.
Andy Penman – President of GY Chamber Council and Group MD of Conductor Installation Services an ACTEON company said ” We must help to sustain the back-bone of Britain by reducing the Tax burden on the energy sector, thus helping those long established Oil & Gas Service organisation to weather the current storm, to come out the other-side stronger and healthier and ready to address the challenger’s when the up-turn arrives into our theatre of business again”.
Deirdrie Michie, the industry body’s chief executive “This great industry of ours is facing very challenging times. Last year, more was spent than was earned from production, a situation which has been exacerbated by the continued fall in commodity prices.
“Difficult decisions have had to be made across the industry. We estimate that employment supported by the sector has contracted by 15% since the start of 2014 to 375,000 jobs. It is likely that capacity may have to be reduced still further in order for the business to weather the downturn.”
The New Anglia Oil and Gas Taskforce, of which Norfolk Chamber is a member, has commissioned a piece of research to understand the challenges and more importantly the opportunities open to local companies in this industry. There is a coordinated approach to providing coordinated help and support to local companies
