Harbour Energy revealed yesterday it expects to save around $40million (£33million) annually after it has made job cuts in Aberdeen.
The largest London-listed independent oil and gas company previously stated it was preparing to cut hundreds of posts and shift attention outside of the UK in response to the windfall tax on North Sea producers. The firm also confirmed it had launched a review of its British business and that it had not taken part in the UK Government's 33rd offshore licensing round.
In its results for 2022 published on Thursday, Harbour said that the controversial energy profits levy (EPL) on producers had virtually wiped out its profits. Profits after tax were less than £7million on turnover of more than £4.5billion.
Chief executive Linda Cook later told the media it was too soon to say how many jobs will be cut. Energy Voice also says the UK North Sea’s largest producer is now looking more closely at areas like south-east Asia and Mexico for portfolio development.
Following deals in recent years to expand Harbour, the CEO conceded there may have been redundancies even without the EPL - but she said the levy remains the main reason for the cuts.
She added: “We concluded the initial kind of merger of those organisations back in 2021, and we’re just starting to see additional opportunities for some further efficiencies with the completion of our new enterprise management system late last year.
Lower investment levels
“So I expect we would have been seeing the opportunity for a bit of efficiency improvement or potential redundancies absent the EPL. But clearly the majority of it is driven by the fact that we’ll have lower investment levels going forward.”
There have been frequent stories in the media recently about more British companies thinking of moving their London listing abroad for reasons such as giving a boost to their market value.
Ms Cook was asked about whether Harbour would shift.
She could not confirm whether that had been discussed, but said she sees the attractiveness of an area like the US.
The CEO added: “We’ve seen the recent reports that other UK companies are considering this and I understand you know the rationale for that, given the general difference in valuations.”
FTSE 100
The UK's top share index, the FTSE 100, was down 106 points at 7,773 shortly after opening this morning, following yesterday's 49-point drop.
Brent crude futures were down 0.42% at $81.25 a barrel.
Companies reporting today
- Trading update: Berkeley Group Holdings.