(Dec 1): Harbour Energy plc, one of the largest independent oil and gas firms in the UK, expects to cut another 100 jobs after the government decided to keep a windfall tax on North Sea producers.
The Labour government last week said it plans to retain the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) — introduced by the previous Conservative administration in 2022 — until March 2030. That was blow to oil and gas (O&G) producers, which had been pushing for faster change to the tax to unlock investments, boost production and keep jobs.
“The future structure of our offshore workforce must adapt to reflect these realities,” Scott Barr, managing director of Harbour Energy’s UK business, said in an emailed statement. British offshore operations “will continue to struggle to compete for capital within our global portfolio, while the EPL remains”, he said.
Harbour Energy, which completed the acquisition of Wintershall Dea’s non-Russian assets last year, operates in nine countries, including in Norway, Germany, Argentina, Mexico and North Africa. The company has already cut about 600 positions in the UK since the EPL was introduced, when energy prices soared following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Many O&G companies, already suffering declines in production at mature fields in the British North Sea, have been reassessing their activities after the windfall tax was extended and increased. Last year’s EPL hike to 38% brought the headline tax rate for the O&G sector to 78%, making Britain less attractive for investment, according to producers.
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