Scotland is facing an “avalanche” of redundancies in the oil and gas sector over the coming weeks, the Unite union has warned.
Unite said that close to 300 contractors based at the Grangemouth refinery and Mossmorran petrochemical plant face imminent unemployment.
These workers are employed across Altrad, Kaefer and Bilfinger, Unite said.
The trade union said over 140 jobs with Altrad, which provided operational support to the PetroIneos facility at Grangemouth, face losing their jobs at the end of June.
During peak activity at the refinery, Altrad employed up to 300 workers.
Meanwhile, Unite said Altrad has announced at least 98 redundancies at Mossmorran due to a “downturn in work and cost savings” imposed by plant owner ExxonMobil.
The slowdown has also led to Bilfinger issuing ten redundancy notices at Mossmorran, while Kaefer is cutting 55 jobs according to Unite.
© Supplied by DCTEnergy Voice has contacted Altrad, Bilfinger and Kaefer for comment.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham warned of an “avalanche of redundancies” taking place across Scotland’s oil and gas sector.
“These job losses highlight what Unite has been saying about the unfolding jobs crisis in the oil and gas industry,” Graham said.
“The reality is that the UK and Scottish governments are failing to protect thousands of jobs.
“Government policy is also accelerating these huge losses without any credible jobs plan in place.”
Oil and gas job losses
The redundancy warning follows a report by Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University (RGU), which warned the North Sea oil and gas sector could shed 29,000 jobs by 2030.
The RGU report found the UK oil and gas workforce had shed 5,000 jobs in 2024, reducing the total offshore sector workforce to around 115,000.
Meanwhile, RGU said the UK renewables sector had expanded by around 5,000 jobs in 2024, but warned there is currently “limited capacity” for the sector to accommodate the number of oil and gas workers losing their jobs.
But report author, professor Paul de Leeuw at RGU, said the UK government has the ability to implement policy measures to support a more even transition away from fossil fuels.
The industry has seen high-profile announcements around job losses in recent weeks, with North Sea operator Harbour Energy set to cut 250 jobs from its Aberdeen office.
Unite has also warned that a further 200 jobs are at immediate risk due to TotalEnergies’ decision to accelerate the decommissioning of the Gryphon FPSO.
But job losses are also accelerating onshore, due to the closure of refining operations at Grangemouth, Unite said.
Unite Scottish secretary Derek Thomson said the end of oil refining at Grangemouth had caused a “widely predicted domino effect” of job losses across the supply chain.
“Mossmorran contractor jobs are also at risk, which will add to the thousands of jobs lost and the thousands more to come on the horizon,” Thomson said.
He added that the “unnecessary” job losses could be prevented if new energy projects at Grangemouth, such as sustainable aviation fuel production, received adequate government support.
“Scotland is in serious danger of losing thousands of highly skilled jobs while creating no new opportunities in greener industries for workers to transition into,” he said.
