Another 500 oil and gas jobs are facing the axe this morning amid fresh warnings that the sector is being hit with an "avalanche" of redundancies.
Unite the Union says more than 300 skilled contractors face losing their jobs at Grangemouth and Mossmorran, while a further 200 roles are at immediate risk on the Gryphon floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in the North Sea.
The news comes just weeks after Harbour Energy announced 250 redundancies, and follows another 250 job losses at collapsed supply chain companies Beam, Belmar Engineering and Enteq Technologies.
Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham has accused both the UK and Scottish governments of failing to protect workers.
“There is an avalanche of redundancies taking place across Scotland’s oil and gas industry," she said.
"Theses job losses highlight what Unite has been saying about the unfolding jobs crisis in the oil and gas industry.
"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.”
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.
Derek Thomson Unite Scottish secretary said: "The historic end of oil refining at Grangemouth is now causing the widely predicted domino effect with hundreds of jobs being lost in 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.
“The job losses are unnecessary because there should be new energy projects underway like SAF production at Grangemouth. 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.”
Earlier this week, a new report has warned that the oil and gas industry could lose up to 400 jobs every two weeks for the next five years unless action is taken.
The major report from Robert Gordon University said on Tuesday that the UK risks losing tens of thousands of offshore energy jobs by 2030 unless urgent and coordinated action is taken immediately.
A spokesperson for the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “We have taken rapid steps to deliver the next generation of good jobs for North Sea workers in a fair and orderly transition as part of our Plan for Change, including by making the biggest investment in offshore wind and two first-of-a-kind carbon capture storage clusters.
“This comes alongside Great British Energy, headquartered in Aberdeen, which has already announced a £300m investment into British supply chains, unlocking significant investment and helping to create thousands of skilled jobs.”