More than 100,000 North Sea oil and gas jobs set to disappear by 2050

By CLAIRE ELLICOTT WHITEHALL EDITOR Published: 00:03, 24 August 2026 | Updated: 00:03, 24 August 2026 More than 100,000 jobs are set to vanish in the North Sea oil and gas sector over the next 25 years, according to Labour’s own figures. The loss will represent a fall of 80 per cent between 2024 – when the party won the election – and 2050. Labour said in its manifesto it would ban new oil and gas licences and has continued with a windfall tax on the sector. Freedom of Information requests made to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) showed that in 2024 there were 136,675 North Sea oil jobs, including direct and indirect. By this year, it had fallen to 115,720. And by 2050 just 23,584 jobs will remain – a loss of 113,091, or 82.7 per cent. The department’s analysis suggests that every direct job in the industry provides a further 4.4 jobs in the supply chain across the country. As early as 2030 a total of 54,268 jobs are predicted to have been lost, and by 2035 more than half the workforce will have lost their jobs with 77,783 posts gone. It comes after reports that Andy Burnham is considering spending billions on new infrastructure to help the UK import foreign gas. Untapped: The Jackdaw gas field is set to be approved by Andy Burnham Rosebank lies some 80 miles north-west of Shetland, while Jackdaw is about 150 miles east of Aberdeen Ministers are said to be looking to acquire a ship to transport liquefied gas or a stockpile of natural gas to ensure supplies. But the approach raises questions about why the Prime Minister has not yet made a decision over the UK’s own oil and gas fields. Ministers are expected to decide by next month whether two fields in Scotland – Rosebank and Jackdaw – can be drilled. Rosebank is the largest untapped oil field in the North Sea and lies some 80 miles north-west of Shetland, while Jackdaw is about 150 miles east of Aberdeen. Reports suggest Mr Burnham will approve the Jackdaw site but not Rosebank. Mr Burnham has previously said: ‘We won’t be able to stop using oil and gas for some time, that’s just a fact. ‘The question is whether we can accelerate use of it so that we pay for the transition, and one thing helps the other... whether that extraction can be the bridge to the clean energy future we need, and bring it forward.’ But he faces opposition from his backbenchers who want him to pursue Net Zero goals, but also from those in Scotland who want to save the oil and gas industry. Developers say approving the sites could support more than 3,500 jobs and generate more than £20billion. The Conservatives, who uncovered the figures on job losses, have vowed to start drilling and overturn Labour’s Net Zero agenda. Claire Coutinho, the party’s energy spokesman, said on Sunday night: ‘It is complete economic insanity to shut down our own oil and gas industry when we’ll need both for decades to come. ‘All we will be doing is importing more of what we need with higher emissions, and as we can see tens of thousands of livelihoods will be lost in the process.’ A DESNZ spokesman said: ‘We are clear that oil and gas will continue to play an important role in our energy system for decades to come while we transition to clean power.’