North Sea workforce will be 'lost for good' unless energy transition speeds up as plans branded 'reckless'

The North Sea’s transient workforce could be “lost for good” unless the energy transition can be accelerated, experts have warned.

Accounting and business advisory firm MHA said it believes 2025 could be “pivotal” in terms of seeing real momentum in the shift from oil and gas to renewables. In December, UK energy secretary Ed Miliband set out a plan to boost renewable energy supply in his “clean power 2030” announcement. This included measures to boost renewable energy supply such as creating canopies of solar panels over outdoor car parks.

Last week, meanwhile, a new pilot scheme was launched for oil and gas workers looking to transition into the renewables industry. The “Energy Skills Passport” will help workers find employment in the offshore wind sector and make it easier for them to discover which qualifications they need and which career paths are available.

There is a drive to reskill North Sea oil and gas workers to undertake renewables work.

Mark Brown, an Aberdeen-based partner at MHA, said: “It’s crucial that the transition starts to see real signs of tangible progress in 2025 as there is a high risk of losing experienced personnel if the jobs just aren’t there. If this does not happen quickly enough, we are in danger of losing what is already a very transient workforce.

“They will work all over the world as has been seen in previous periods of North Sea downturn. They will go to where the opportunities are, where the money is, particularly the younger workforce whose skills will be key to the energy transition. Once they go abroad, they might never come back.

“We need the industry to remain buoyant enough here in the North Sea to hold on to those workers long enough for the transition into renewables - that’s the key,” he added. “These plans must now mean something. Action must be taken to attract and secure investment in the immediate years to come.”

Returning US President Donald Trump has recently criticised the UK government’s energy policy, stating that they should “open up” the mature North Sea oil and gas basin and get rid of wind farms.

Michael Meakin-Blackwell, a director at MHA, which also has an office in Edinburgh, said that while it was unlikely the UK would accede to Mr Trump’s rhetoric, he questioned how ambitious a 2030 clean power target is against an increased complexity of the work that needs to be undertaken.

“Around twice as much new transmission network infrastructure will be needed in the nation’s grid by 2030 as has been built in the past decade,” he noted. “In addition to this, wind turbine generator, solar and battery assets continue to increase in size and therefore technical complexity.

“The plan also highlights the ‘huge opportunity’ for reskilling and transferring skills with over 90 per cent of the UK’s oil and gas workforce possessing skills that have medium to high transferability to the offshore renewables sector. While this may be true and could be a major pull of investors in the North-east of Scotland in particular, a high degree of retraining will be required, adding further scepticism that these targets can be hit.”

Shadow energy security and net zero secretary Andrew Bowie said: "These serious concerns demonstrate the real risks to highly-skilled workers in the North Sea under Labour and the SNP's current approach.

"They claim they want a just transition, but their reckless plans would turn the taps off in the North Sea overnight. There's nothing just or fair about that or relying on costly foreign imports rather than our own oil and gas at home.

"Labour and the SNP just don't get it and only the Scottish Conservatives are challenging the left-wing consensus and standing up for our crucial oil and gas industry.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said ministers were “clear in our support for a just transition for Scotland’s valued oil and gas sector”.

“We have taken important steps to demonstrate this commitment, such as establishing a Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray, which has already allocated £75 million for projects that create jobs, support innovation, and develop skills,” the spokesperson said.

“As part of this, it is vital that we recognise the considerable skills of Scotland’s valued oil and gas workers. That is why we have invested in an energy skills passport to ensure that the skills, experience and expertise of oil and gas workers is not lost as part of a fair and managed transition to net zero.”