Value of oil and gas jobs to Aberdeen area seen in report

The trade body warns that as people with the skills required for the energy industry are in short supply, the UK could pay a high price if it does not maximise the potential of the workers it has.

With the UK facing fierce competition for investment in low carbon resources from countries such as the USA, the country risks slipping down the global rankings in key emerging industries.

“More than 90% of all those currently working in oil and gas production and its associated supply chain have skills that are potentially transferable to wind, carbon capture, usage and storage and clean hydrogen energy production,” said OEUK.

The organisation added: “Allowing skilled workers to be lost from the labour market will mean that we will be forced to import what we need. Britain therefore risks losing its place as the world’s second biggest provider of wind energy after China.”

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The workforce report comes as global leaders debate the best approaches to tackling the climate crisis at the COP28 summit in Dubai. There is huge uncertainty about key issues such as how fast technologies like hydrogen fuel will be adopted.

Environmentalists are adamant that fossil fuel use should be phased out.

However, OEUK reckons its Workforce Insight report underlines the value of the oil and gas industry to the wider energy sector in the UK and the country’s labour market.

It highlighted the findings of a study by Robert Gordon University, which forecast that the offshore energy sector workforce could increase by up to 50% from over 150,000 in 2023 to 225,000 by the end of the decade.

Job numbers could fall by 20,000 if renewables activity does not increase fast enough.

OEUK said firms would invest up to £200 billion in homegrown renewables energy with the right support.

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The organisation said: “Governments need to drive investment into both oil and gas production and renewable energy, particularly offshore wind.

“This will ensure a visible and sustainable pipeline of confirmed work that will encourage the supply chain to recruit and develop personnel in a timely fashion.”

OEUK said a fair and predictable tax regime would help to attract investment in North Sea energy.

In last month’s Autumn Statement chancellor Jeremy Hunt snubbed calls for a cut in the headline rate applying to the windfall tax imposed last year on oil and gas firms.

However, he introduced an investment allowance for renewables generators like the one available to oil and gas firms.

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The move came soon after Rishi Sunak’s Government agreed to increase the support provided for renewables generators under the Contracts for Difference system after developers such as SSE and ScottishPower boycotted the latest round.

Renewables activity has failed to provide the kind of boost to economic activity in Scotland that was predicted by champions of the industry.

First minister Humza Yousaf launched a £500m offshore wind supply chain fund in October.

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Robert Gordon University reckons the wider UK offshore energy workforce includes 120,000 oil and gas workers and 34,000 renewables staff.

OEUK found the number of people travelling offshore to work in the oil and gas industry increased by 5% in 2022, to 38,933 from 36,946 in 2021 when pandemic restrictions posed challenges.

Some 87%, 33,737, of the oil and gas workers travelling offshore live in the UK.

Of those 21,137 live in Scotland, including 10,161 in Aberdeenshire.

The Workforce Insight report noted: “As with other comparable industries, the oil and gas sector still has some way to go in terms of improving representation of minority groups in its workforce and reflecting modern society better.”