Hundreds more North Sea industry jobs axed

Scotland’s beleaguered North Sea oil and gas industry has suffered a fresh blow as Danish giant Maersk Oil confirmed it is to cut about 220 UK jobs.

North Sea oil rig.

It is part of a drive to reduce its workforce by 10-12 per cent, bringing the total of posts lost during 2015 to about 1,250. The UK jobs are linked to the retirement of the North Sea Janice oil installation.

The firm said that the move followed an “extensive internal review of business activities and continued low oil prices”.

Chief executive Jakob Thomasen said: “These are difficult decisions for any business and my immediate concern is for the welfare of those affected directly by today’s news.

“We are operating in a materially-changed oil price environment and have taken necessary decisions to reduce activity levels through 2015 and ensure we focus where we can see adequate returns from our most robust projects.

“This approach has seen us sanction mega-projects like Johan Sverdrup and Culzean during the year. We remain focused on longer-term growth opportunities, which play to our technical strengths.”

Thousands of jobs have been lost in recent months the North Sea following the collpase of the global oil price which has plummeted to about $50, down from about $110 last year.