North Sea warns oil and virus crises threaten survival
Trade body says sector faces sweeping cuts and is in ‘paper-thin position’
Employees attach hooks from a crane to a set of chains on the quay side, in view of the Ocean Vanguard mobile offshore drilling unit, operated by Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. in in the Port of Cromarty Firth in Cromarty, U.K., on Tuesday, July 26, 2016. The pace of North Sea oil-field shutdowns is picking up as the impact of the market slump is compounded by the uncertain investment environment created by Brexit. Photographer: Matthew Lloyd/Bloomberg
Oil and gas explorers and producers are expected to slash their capital investment budgets by up to 30 per cent this year © Bloomberg
March 19, 2020 12:01 am by Nathalie Thomas in Edinburgh
Oil and gas companies in the UK North Sea are facing an “unprecedented” crisis that threatens some with collapse and will mean sweeping spending cuts this year, according to a bleak report released on Thursday.
OGUK, a trade body for the North Sea operators, said the combination of the oil price war triggered by Russia and Saudi Arabia and pressures on commodity prices from the global spread of coronavirus were creating a situation “we have really never seen before”