North Sea oil and gas sector "faces 400 job losses every fortnight"
Last updated 3rd Jun 2025
A new report is warning the UK risks losing tens of thousands of offshore energy jobs by 2030 unless urgent is taken immediately.
The Robert Gordon University findings outline how the sector faces the equivalent of Grangemouth scale redundancies every fortnight.
“The UK’s lack of joined up action means that the window of opportunity for delivering a just transition is closing,” said Professor Paul de Leeuw, Director of the Energy Transition Institute at RGU.
“With investment at risk and renewables projects facing delays, the findings underline the present-day situation for the UK offshore energy industry and its stakeholders. The big prize of a significant jobs gain is still within our collective reach. Inaction or simply slow progress will mean that UK offshore energy job numbers overall could drop by almost 20% to 125,000 by 2030, making the path towards net zero even harder to negotiate.
Rapid investment is key and other countries lead the way
“The analysis shows that there is a workforce ‘goldilocks zone’ between 2025 and 2030 during which the UK supply chain capacity and capability can be sustained, developed and invested in, so that the transferability of the offshore energy workforce is optimised. However, key to the effective delivery of the goldilocks zone is rapid investment in UK capabilities to deliver a fast-growing programme of green capital projects, which in turn will help to realise ambitious goals for domestic execution of these projects.”
“Countries such as Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands are already successfully balancing traditional energy production with rapid expansion of renewables, a model the UK could and should emulate.
“The review recognises the constraints to accelerate the deployment of offshore wind, CCS, hydrogen and other renewable energies over the remainder of this decade. However, the analysis highlights that Governments can rapidly put in place policies to better manage the decline in the oil and gas sector, so that offshore energy jobs and the UK’s world-class supply chain can be sustained and retained.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "The Scottish Government welcomes this report. Along with the recent report from the Just Transition Commission, this will help inform an evidence-based approach to Scotland’s energy transition.
“We appreciate that these reports come in the context of recent and concerning reports of job losses in the oil and gas sector. We also note the finding that the balance of offshore employment is already beginning to shift towards new roles in renewables.
“Workers are at the heart of Scotland’s just transition to net zero.
"The Scottish Government is working with the energy sector to plan for a multi-skilled workforce and enable our skilled offshore workers to carry their experience and expertise into different roles as the sector evolves. We will continue to work together with organisations and workers across the region to ensure people and the communities they live in continue to thrive."
A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero added: “We have taken rapid steps to deliver the next generation of good jobs for North Sea workers in a fair and orderly transition as part of our Plan for Change, including by making the biggest investment in offshore wind and two first-of-a-kind carbon capture storage clusters.
“This comes alongside Great British Energy, headquartered in Aberdeen, which has already announced a £300 million investment into British supply chains, unlocking significant investment and helping to create thousands of skilled jobs.”