Shell to axe nearly one in four jobs in Scottish oil capital
475 face sack in latest North Sea industry blow
HUNDREDS of Scottish oil workers are facing the sack in the latest devastating blow to the beleaguered industry.
Petrochemical giant Shell announced it is to slash its UK workforce by almost a quarter, which will see 475 people axed in Aberdeen and the North East of Scotland.
Shell insists it will ‘remain a key employer in the North East of Scotland’, with around 1,700 employees.
The Scottish and UK governments have expressed concern at the scale of the cuts in Scotland and have pledged to help workers.
Scottish Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse said: ‘The Scottish Government stands ready to do all it can to assist through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (Pace).
‘Through providing skills and employability support, Pace aims to minimise the time that those affected by redundancy are out of work.
‘More widely, the Scottish Cutbacks: North Sea industry Government has demonstrated through practical action that we are fully committed to working with the oil and gas industry during these challenging times.
‘Our Energy Jobs Taskforce is co-ordinating action and laying a solid foundation for a truly modernised North Sea oil industry and has helped support more than 2,500 individuals and 100 employers through the current downturn.
‘And the Scottish Government has also provided direct support for the sector, which includes a £12million skills fund to support individuals’ transition to other employment through additional training or education, and Scottish Enterprise have allocated a further £12.5million for innovation and to support new technologies.’
Scottish Secretary David Mundell said: ‘The UK Government will do all it can to support the workers and the industry as a whole.
‘We have introduced a significant package of tax measures, worth £2.3billion, to ensure the UK remains an attractive destination for investment.
‘To support Aberdeen directly we have agreed with the Scottish Government and local authorities a £250million City Deal for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.’
Mr Wheelhouse pledged to visit Aberdeenshire at the earliest opportunity, while Mr Mundell said he will promote Scottish skills, expertise and innovation during a visit to US oil state Texas next week.
Paul Goodfellow, Shell’s vice president for UK and Ireland, addressed staff in Aberdeen yesterday morning.
Speaking afterwards, he said: ‘We need to reduce our cost base, improve production efficiency and have an organisation that best fits our combined portfolio and business plans.
‘As a result, we will reduce the size of the organisation supporting our UK and Ireland upstream business by around 475 people. We will look to implement the majority of this change during 2016.
‘Following these changes, Shell will still remain a key employer in the North East of Scotland with around 1,700 employees.
‘The reductions we’re announcing today in Aberdeen are part of a global programme of job reductions in Shell.’
John Boland, of the Unite union, said its members now had ‘very real fears that Shell cannot continue to operate safely offshore if it keeps shedding the workers tasked with ensuring our oil industry is safe and sustainable’.
He echoed calls for an urgent oil and gas sector summit, adding: ‘Both the Scottish and Westminster governments must wake up to what is happening to this vital sector.’
‘Wake up to what is happening’