The Government should apologise to oil and gas workers who have lost their jobs since Labour came to power, the Conservatives have said.
Shadow energy minister Andrew Bowie said job losses and closures had already taken place as part of the planned switch to more environmentally friendly energy sources.
He said 3,000 had already been cut since Labour came to power.
He referred to a variety of projected job loss figures, including the Robert Gordon University in Scotland predicting 400 jobs would go every fortnight.
Meanwhile energy minister Sarah Jones said oil and gas “were not the jobs of the future”.
Mr Bowie said: “(Offshore Energies UK) predicting 42,000 job losses unless there is significant policy change.
“The Just Transition Commission warning 120,000 jobs may go by 2030, and no prospect of a just transition because the supply-chain are just upping sticks and moving overseas.”
If borne out figures produced by the university, based in Aberdeen – a city long linked to the oil and gas industry – would be the equivalent to job losses from the Grangemouth refinery closing every two weeks.
Ms Jones replied: “The North Sea will continue to play an important role for years to come, which is why we are keeping open existing fields for their lifetime.
“The truth is, this is a declining base, and (Mr Bowie) knows this. This is not where the jobs of the future are going to be. The jobs of the future are in the clean energy transition, which we are investing in at pace.”
Ministers were also asked by MPs about the future of the Rosebank oil and gas field near the Shetland Islands, off the north-east coast of Scotland.
The consent to develop it was declared unlawful by the courts in November 2024.
Energy minister Michael Shanks said his department planned to publish guidance on emissions potentially created by Rosebank.
Mr Bowie asked: “In the dim and distant past in 2023, the secretary of state described the Rosebank oil field as a colossal waste of taxpayer money and climate vandalism. Does he still agree?”
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: “As with any application, there’s a process my department will go through and we’ll look through any applications in a fair and objective way.”
Conservative MP for Gordon and Buchan in Aberdeenshire, Harriet Cross asked why the Government had not met Cabinet Office targets to respond to a consultation on the guidance for emissions from offshore oil and gas projects.
The Government says a response should be published within 12 weeks, but it is now 22 weeks since it closed on January 8.
Ms Cross said: “When will the department publish the guidance? Because it is causing delays to projects in the North Sea today.”
Ms Shanks replied: “It’s a very complex issue as I’m sure she’ll understand. We will publish the response and indeed the process that will now be able to be put into place as soon as possible, and then developers that wish to reapply will be able to do so.”
Labour MP Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth), who has been a vocal critic of the Government’s response to Grangemouth’s closure asked if the Government would take an ownership stake in any green energy infrastructure.
Referring to the Acorn carbon capture and storage scheme north of the border, Mr Leishman said: “Acorn would go some way to reindustrialising areas of Scotland and that is much needed.
“And I welcomed the Government committing £200 million from the national wealth fund for future industry at Grangemouth in my constituency.”
He continued: “In order to avoid us again being in a precarious position of private capital of foreign government ownership dictating our future energy industries, does the Government plan on taking any ownership stake in the industries that are going to be coming at Grangemouth?”
Energy minister Sarah Jones replied: “We have lost thousands of jobs under the previous government whether it’s in ceramics, whether it’s in chemicals, whether it’s in steel.
“And the previous government saw foundational industries really through the rear-view mirror, but we know they’re going to forge our future and that’s why we’re rushing to get to clean energy by 2030, so we can bring those prices down.”
