UK oil and gas: Confidence in the North Sea oil industry plummets to all-time low
More woes for UK oil, as a new industry report shows confidence in the embattled North Sea oil and gas industry plunging to a new record low.
Four in five contractors feel less confident about their prospects now than they did last year, according to the latest Oil and Gas Survey.
Unsurprising, perhaps, considering the crashing oil production and runaway exploration costs that have struck the North Sea industry hard, and resulted in a wave of redundancies.
Read more: UK oil sector braces for massive job cuts
Some 64 per cent of firms polled had to slash jobs in 2015, with just 14 per cent expanding their workforce over the same time period, according to the survey conducted by Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce together with the Fraser of Allander Institute and the Bond Dickinson law firm.
A full 85 per cent also feared that job cuts would continue into 2016.
Uisdean Vass, oil and gas partner at Bond Dickinson, called this “the most negative survey we have ever had”, but pointed out that there were some glimmers of hope:
Neither contractors nor operators see the North Sea disappearing. They believe the industry can survive at $50 a barrel and that there will be a price upswing over the next three years with more room for oil company profitability because of enhanced efficiency.
Contractors will also benefit from enhanced efficiency. As the old saying goes, “What doesn't kill you makes you stronger”.
And all hope is not yet extinguished. Just ask the optimistic one per cent who replied that they were now feeling more confident than before about the North Sea’s future…