Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature currently requires accessing the site using the built-in Safari browser.
Jobs supported by the sector will have dropped by more than a quarter at the end of this year, compared to its peak of 450,000 in 2014, industry trade body Oil and Gas UK has found. Its latest figures show employment was slashed by about 84,000 to around 370,000 last year, with a further 40,000 jobs set to be cut in 2016. The total number of jobs supported by the sector is expected to stand at 330,000 at the close of this year. The gloomy update comes as North Sea operators and supply chain companies continue to make swingeing cuts in an effort to drive down costs since the price of oil plummeted from its peak of around 115 US dollars in 2015. Brent crude currently sits at around 51 US dollars a barrel.
Deirdre Michie, chief executive of Oil & Gas UK, said: "The industry has been spending more than it is earning since the oil price slump towards the end of 2014. "This is not sustainable and companies have been faced with some very difficult decisions. "To survive, the industry has had no choice but to improve its performance. It is looking to find efficiencies to restore competitiveness, to attract investment and stimulate activity in the North Sea. With up to 20 billion barrels of oil and gas still to recover, this region is still very much open for business." The research - carried out by Experian - comes as the number of exploration and appraisal wells set to be drilled this year is expected to be less than half that of 2015, according to Oil and Gas UK.
It added that more than 20% of the oil fields on the UK Continental Shelf are currently operating at a higher unit cost than the current oil price. A separate study by the Bank of Scotland revealed on Monday that a third of the UK's oil and gas firms are planning further job cuts this year as a result of the price slump. The bank's latest report on the industry found 43% of companies are planning further cost-cutting measures, while 32% of businesses are planning to cut jobs.
Ms Michie added: "330,000 jobs is still a significant number, but the total employment we will sustainably provide depends on the level of investment attracted into the basin. "If investment falls, then so will jobs. The interventions we make now will be critical to shape the industry's direction and help stem future losses." Scottish Labour Economy spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: "These are stark figures which underline the scale of the oil jobs crisis. "We need both short and long term responses to this crisis. Labour has called for a public agency to protect strategic investments. "In the short term we need to support workers. The SNP's flagship training fund has not delivered anywhere near enough support. "The SNP ignored the oil jobs crisis for months because it was politically embarrassing for them. We need to see much more regular reporting of the impact of the changing oil price on jobs and the economy. "
MORE
Current So NV prices range from $2.99 to $3.15
Diesel prices are surprisingly lower.
All our fuels are piped in from So Cal where the at-the-pump prices are decidedly higher.
It happens to be true.Actually it is the Oil Monopoly shutting down refineries that is jacking up the price. As the price of crude drops they shut down refineries to keep profits high, and oil profits continue to be high.This story @ Why gas prices are rising as oil falls to 6-year lows - MarketWatch gives one reason while this one @ Da Tech Guy Blog Blog Archive How to spike gas prices even while oil prices fall says:
The root causes of both spikes are the same – a lack of new refineries and boutique reformulated gasoline. In suburban Chicago, the largest refinery in the region, and one of only two that produce the RFG that is specific to the Chicago and Milwaukee metropolitan areas, is effectively shut down for at least a month by BP because of a leak in the the main crude unit. In California, a combination of a refinery fire, a strike at a second refinery, and California’s very-special environmental rules kept the price of gasoline extraordinarily high.
So what that refinery output has increased? All it takes is a problem with just ONE of the existing plants and prices go up everywhere. Instead of having a few big ones, why not have more small ones?
Won't happen thanks to the EPA and other government agencies!
Do you honestly believe this tripe?
Peak Oil Crisis Being Compounded by Refinery Closures OilPrice.com
In recent years we lost refineries in Westville, NJ, and Yorktown, Va. A large refinery in southeastern Pennsylvania was shut down in December as was one in New Jersey. A third large Philadelphia refinery is up for sale and will be closed in July if no buyer can be found.
Last week we learned that what once was one of the largest refineries in the world (500,000 barrels a day [b/d]), located in the US Virgin Islands and which has been shipping about 200,000 b/d to the U.S.'s east coast will close next month. If you add up the rated capacities of refineries being closed you are looking at something approaching 1.5 million b/d, but as these refineries were not running at capacity or sending their entire product to the northeastern U.S., we are losing more on the order of 800,000 b/d of daily production. If this is not enough several European refineries, another source for gasoline in the U.S., have recently closed down or are up for sale.
Then, please explain to us WHY they are closing or going out of business. Instead of tripe about the big, greedy oil producers, why not give us FACTS.
I paid $2.189 yesterday (no discount card)
Diesel prices confuse me tho.
Refined less but costs more
