Scotland's oil and gas industry 'being destroyed before our eyes'
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay warned the sector risks being ‘wiped out entirely’
Scotland’s oil and gas industry is being “destroyed before our eyes”, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives has warned.
Russell Findlay said the sector risks being “wiped out entirely” unless both the Scottish and UK governments change direction.
He accused SNP ministers of applying a “sticking plaster to a shotgun wound” in their measures to support a transition.
Mr Findlay made the comments after a new report warned £13 billion could be lost if the oil and gas industry undergoes an accelerated - rather than a managed - decline over the next decade.
Analysis by the respected Fraser Of Allander Institute (FAI) said this included around £4 billion in Scotland alone.
Meanwhile, global energy giant ExxonMobil has announced it will close its manufacturing plant at Mossmorran, with hundreds of jobs at risk.
Speaking during First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood, Mr Findlay said: “Scotland’s oil and gas industry is being destroyed before our eyes. The Labour and SNP governments are causing this to happen because it suits their net zero agenda.
“John Swinney’s government promised a transition plan for Mossmorran 18 months ago, so where is it?”
He urged Mr Swinney to sign a joint letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves demanding that the UK Labour government put an end to the energy profits levy, or windfall tax, in next week’s Budget.
The First Minister said the windfall tax was initially introduced by the Conservatives, adding: “I don’t need to add my name to the letter that Russell Findlay is talking about, because the Finance Secretary [Shona Robison] has already made these representations to the United Kingdom government.
“We are at a pivotal moment in relation to supporting the sustaining of employment in Scotland’s economy, as we ensure that we build up towards our clean energy and renewable future.”
But Mr Findlay insisted both governments must “change direction” or thousands of jobs will be lost.
“Unless Labour and the SNP change course, Scotland’s world-leading oil and gas sector will be wiped out entirely, never to return,” he said. “Does John Swinney at least accept that his government’s hostility to oil and gas has contributed to this national emergency?”
The Scottish Government’s position is that any new oil and gas developments should pass a climate compatibility assessment, however licensing remains reserved to Westminster.
Mr Swinney said the government had put in place “practical support” for communities affected by the energy transition, given the North Sea is a “mature basin”.
He said: “The government will take forward sustained support to assist in the management of the transition, which I recognise to be a significant threat to companies and to employees.”
Mr Findlay said the First Minister’s response was “an evasive insult” to oil and gas workers, adding: “He’s offering a sticking plaster to a shotgun wound.”
The FAI said internationally mobile energy workers are increasingly being deployed overseas to work on projects in more favourable regimes, which could have implications for the economy for as long as the next 25 years.
Working with scenario data from the energy transition institute at Robert Gordon University, its research compared two plausible paths for the UK’s oil and gas sector over the next decade: a “managed decline” and an “accelerated decline”.
For the UK as a whole, the gap between the two scenarios is worth around £13 billion in gross value added (GVA) in 2035 – equivalent to around 0.5 per cent of projected UK GDP.
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