North Sea operator Harbour Energy has confirmed it will cut 250 jobs from its headquarters in Aberdeen.
Harbour said the decision comes mainly due to the UK government’s “ongoing punitive fiscal position and a challenging regulatory environment”.
The announcement comes nearly two years after Harbour cut 350 onshore jobs from its Aberdeen office, from a baseline of around 1,200.
In a statement, Harbour Energy UK managing director Scott Barr said the firm is launching a review of its North Sea operations, which it expects will lead to the loss of 250 onshore roles in Aberdeen.
“The review is unfortunately necessary to align staffing levels with lower levels of investment, due mainly to the government’s ongoing punitive fiscal position and a challenging regulatory environment,” Barr said.
“Harbour remains among the largest producers in the UK North Sea and, while our dedicated and highly skilled people will continue to produce vital energy safely and responsibly, we must take these difficult steps in response to the challenges presented by the current external environment.”
The cut makes up around a quarter of Harbour’s staff pool, which stands at 1,000 people.
Barr also highlighted ongoing uncertainty around UK government support for its Viking carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in the Humber.
The Viking project is part of the government’s Track-2 CCS process, alongside the Acorn project in Scotland, in which Harbour also has a stake.
While the UK government has progressed Track-1 projects in Teesside and Liverpool Bay, it has yet to confirm the same support for Viking and Acorn.
Barr said Harbour is “reviewing the resourcing required” to support Viking as the project has been hindered by “repeated delays” to Track-2 funding.
Harbour Energy’s North Sea operations
In its most recent financial results, Harbour reported around $6 billion in revenues in 2024 alongside $4 billion in earnings before interest, depreciation, amortisation and exploration (EBITDAX).
However, the company said it has overseen “materially reduced capital investment in the UK” due to the windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas firms.
The previous Conservative government introduced the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) in 2022, and since taking office the Labour party has increased and extended the tax.
© Supplied by Harbour EnergyHarbour has been a vocal opponent of the EPL, with the company claiming it paid 108% tax in the UK last year as a result of the fiscal regime.
The Aberdeen-headquartered firm is among a number of North Sea operators to warn they could potentially pull out of the UK as a result of the ongoing windfall tax.
Since its introduction, Harbour acquired German rival Wintershall Dea in an $11.2bn deal in a bid to boost its international footprint.
After the takeover of Wintershall, Harbour added further assets and exploration rights in Argentina, Germany, Algeria, Libya, Egypt and Denmark to its portfolio.
In a sign of its growing international focus, last week Harbour made a final investment decision on a $100m floating LNG project in Argentina.
Harbour has also highlighted further growth opportunities in Norway, Mexico and Indonesia.
While the company is pursuing a UK oil discovery at Gilderoy, close to the operator’s Greater Britannia Area, reports have suggested other North Sea assets are up for sale.
These include stakes in the Armada, Everest, Lomond, Catcher and Tolmount fields.
Starmer ‘willing to move heaven and earth to save jobs in Scunthorpe while destroying jobs in Scotland’
© Andrew Milligan/PA WireThe SNP’s Westminster leader and MP for Aberdeen South invited prime minster Keir Starmer to the Granite City to see the impact job cuts caused by political policy are having on the region.
Flynn said during Wednesday’s prime minister’s questions: “Explain to my constituents why he is willing to move heaven and earth to save jobs in Scunthorpe while destroying jobs in Scotland.”
The SNP leader was referring to the government’s recent move to nationalise British Steel in Scunthorpe.
The UK government took control of the British steel company from its Chinese owner, Jingye Group, after losses from its steelmaking operations forced it to the brink.
Flynn also pointed to the recent closure of oil refining at Petroineos’ site in Grangemouth.
He said that prior to last year’s general election that the Labour Party stood on saving operations at Scotland’s last oil refinery.
Flynn added: “He promised that he would unleash a generation of secure energy jobs in my city of Aberdeen.”
The prime minister did not respond directly to Flynn’s questions around North Sea policy, instead pointing to Grangemouth and the efforts his government made to save oil refining at the site before changing tack completely and targeting Scotland’s NHS waiting times among other issues.
Starmer responded: “No one wants to see job losses but I remind the right honourable member that before we came into office 10 months ago, the SNP government in Holyrood – alongside the Conservative government – did absolutely nothing for projects like Grangemouth. Absolutely nothing!
“In Grangemouth, we have committed £200 million to secure the future for the site, delivered a £100 million deal, we’re helping with the trading guarantees that are needed. But, just like his first minister, the honourable member will raise anything to distract from their disastrous record.
“Almost one in six Scots stuck on an NHS waiting list, standards and violence in Scottish schools, over a billion pounds cut from local government. We gave them the biggest settlement since devolution, they’ve been in power for nearly two decades, they have got absolutely no way to hide their appalling record.”
‘The latest in a long line of redundancy measures’
© DC ThomsonFlynn wasn’t the only politician from the north-east of Scotland to give his two cents on Labour’s impact on UK oil and gas.
Acting shadow energy secretary and Conservative Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MP Andrew Bowie said the Harbour announcement “is the latest in a long line of redundancy measures announced by Scottish and international firms, with each one pointing to the windfall tax and policy uncertainty”.
Bowie was a member of the Conservative government when it introduced the windfall tax in 2022, and was a junior energy minister when the EPL was extended in 2024.
“Firms which have been squeezed by Labour and the SNP’s obsession with bringing an early end to domestic oil and gas production,” Bowie added.
In 2023, Harbour Energy also cut 350 onshore jobs from its UK business from a baseline of around 1,200.
At the time, the UK’s largest producer of oil and gas also pointed to fiscal uncertainty in the UK and a hostile tax regime.
“The list is long — Ithaca in 2023, BP with 7,700 jobs last year, then Hunting, and many more — all pointing directly at government,” Bowie added.
“What happens next will depend wholly on what Keir Starmer and John Swinney do to stop highly-skilled industry jobs from leaving Scotland.”
Government will ‘support workers and communities’ affected by Harbour decision
In response to the Harbour Energy announcement, a UK government spokesperson said: ““Our thoughts are with any workers affected by this commercial decision, and we will do everything in our power to support workers and communities.
“The government has reformed the Energy Profits Levy to support investment and give industry certainty and stability.
“By making the UK a clean energy superpower, including launching a world-leading carbon capture and storage industry after years of delay, consenting record amounts of clean power, and ending many years of no new nuclear, we will get the UK off dependence on markets controlled by petrostates and dictators, and drive jobs and growth through our Plan for Change.”
