More than 100,000 North Sea oil and gas jobs will disappear over the next 25 years under Labour government policy, internal department figures reveal.
The decline represents an 80 per cent drop in employment between 2024, when Labour won the general election, and 2050. Official figures obtained through Freedom of Information requests show that the industry will lose 113,091 posts, equal to an 82.7 per cent reduction over the period.
In 2024, the sector supported 136,675 direct and indirect jobs across the United Kingdom. By this year, total employment had dropped to 115,720, and projections indicate that only 23,584 jobs will remain by 2050.
Analysis from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the government ministry overseeing national energy policy and climate targets, indicates that each direct role in the offshore energy sector supports an additional 4.4 jobs in the wider domestic supply chain.
Projected workforce losses
The data outlines a rapid decline in workforce numbers over the coming decade. By 2030, a total of 54,268 jobs are predicted to be lost across the industry.
By 2035, more than half of the existing workforce will have lost their jobs, with overall losses reaching 77,783 positions. The downturn follows Labour manifesto commitments to ban new oil and gas exploration licences and maintain a windfall tax on energy producers.
Gas import infrastructure plans
The job figures emerge amid reports that Andy Burnham is considering spending billions of pounds on new infrastructure to help the United Kingdom import foreign gas.
Ministers are reportedly considering the acquisition of a specialized vessel to transport liquefied natural gas or the creation of a natural gas stockpile to ensure energy supplies. The move has raised questions regarding why the Prime Minister has not yet reached a decision on domestic drilling projects.
Government ministers are expected to decide by next month whether drilling can proceed at two major Scottish offshore fields, Rosebank and Jackdaw. Rosebank is the largest undeveloped oil field in the North Sea, located roughly 80 miles north-west of Shetland, while Jackdaw sits about 150 miles east of Aberdeen, Scotland's primary energy hub.
Reports indicate that Mr Burnham will approve the Jackdaw field development while rejecting the Rosebank site.
Defending energy extraction, Mr Burnham previously stated: "We won't be able to stop using oil and gas for some time, that's just a fact."
He added: "The question is whether we can accelerate use of it so that we pay for the transition, and one thing helps the other... whether that extraction can be the bridge to the clean energy future we need, and bring it forward."
Political debate and economic impact
Mr Burnham faces competing political pressures over the decisions. Backbench Labour MPs have urged him to pursue Net Zero climate targets, while politicians and campaigners in Scotland have called for measures to save the oil and gas industry.
Industry developers state that approving both the Rosebank and Jackdaw sites could generate more than £20 billion in economic value and support over 3,500 jobs.
The Conservative Party, which uncovered the employment figures from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, pledged to reverse Labour's Net Zero agenda and restart offshore drilling permissions.
Claire Coutinho, the Conservative shadow energy spokesman, criticized the government's approach on Sunday night, saying: "It is complete economic insanity to shut down our own oil and gas industry when we'll need both for decades to come."
She added: "All we will be doing is importing more of what we need with higher emissions, and as we can see tens of thousands of livelihoods will be lost in the process."
Responding to the figures, a spokesman for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: "We are clear that oil and gas will continue to play an important role in our energy system for decades to come while we transition to clean power."
