Yemisi Izuora/Agency Report
The growing numbers of job cuts in the oil industry is having a dangerous impact on the mental health of some workers, according to a support group.
BBC News reports that more than 700 job losses in the sector have been announced this week alone.
Industry body Oil and Gas UK estimates more than 65,000 jobs have already been lost as a result of the tumbling price of oil.
Suicide prevention body Choose Life told BBC Scotland it was vital those affected sought help.
On Tuesday, BP announced it was set to cut a fifth of its North Sea workforce – hitting about 600 jobs. The day before, Petrofac said it would shed 160 posts.
Economists said the drag on the Scottish economy was largely due to the effects of the falling oil price.
Neil Murray, the Choose Life co-ordinator for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, met some of those affected at a recent employment fair.
Neil Murray, of Choose Llife, said a “worrying trend” was developing He said: “I was absolutely struck by the impact that the downturn in oil and gas had had on people who were attending that event.
“To be honest I saw people who were in shock and were in trauma, some people were facing redundancy, others had been unemployed for some time, and others were still in the industry but feeling very insecure.
“It wasn’t all people who were in highly-paid jobs, it was people right across the board.
“What really struck me was the impact that the threat of losing your job or the effects of actually being unemployed was having on them.
“It’s a way of life and it takes up such a big chunk of your life, which is not unique to the oil industry I have to say, but historically the industry has done well and I think a lot of people could not foresee this coming.
“They felt they were in very secure employment, and when the rest of the UK had suffered downturns Aberdeen has really fared quite well.”
Image caption
Jobs fairs are being held to help
He added: “There are indications that what is happening in the oil and gas industry is impacting on our suicide figures.”This is a worrying trend.
“As part of the Choose Life group and community we target the north east of Scotland to try to get the message out there.
“It’s OK to talk about suicide and especially it’s OK to go and seek help when you need it.”
One oil worker who lost his job in September spoke on the condition he was not identified.
He told BBC Scotland: “I came out the job fair that day and I just burst into tears and I thought ‘sod it’ I’m going for a swim, I actually thought of topping myself, until I saw my little boy’s picture on my phone and that sort of brought me back to earth.
“I was bursting into tears every now and again and crying, me and my wife were arguing and were at each other’s throats.
“I just sat there and thought I am worthless.
“I said to myself the wee boy’s worth more than that, so I ended up going for counselling. The counsellor, she was absolutely fantastic.”
Asked about counselling, he said “I would say do it. You are just bottling it up. It’s just going to explode.
“It’s quite a dark thing, there are a lot of people hiding it, and it’s going to get worse.
“There are a lot of people caught in the money trap – the offshore money trap, big houses, big cars, that is where they are caught.”
Aberdeen-based Jake Molloy, from the RMT Union, said: “They are broken, a lot of them are seriously hurt by it, husbands and wives sitting crying in cars, and lives completely in ruin.
“It’s very difficult, and I know that a few of them are struggling and are seeking support with the problems they are facing – financial problems, relationship problems.
“To me the obvious elements are depression, this feeling of being left isolated, vulnerable.”
Oil prices have fallen by about 70 percent in the past 18 months as supply has outstripped demand. The demand for oil from China has fallen as its economic growth has slowed.
Meanwhile supply has increased, partly due to the rise of US shale oil. In addition, the world’s largest exporter of oil, Saudi Arabia, has refused to cut production – something it has done previously to support oil prices.
Analysts estimate that about one million barrels of oil are being produced above demand every day.
Consumers and some businesses have benefitted from lower oil prices. UK motorists have seen the price of petrol and diesel fall from about £1.40 a litre 18 months ago to about £1 now.
Transport operators and airlines should also be benefitting from cheaper fuel. The lower fuel costs have also helped to keep inflation close to zero in many countries.
Oil exporting nations that rely on a higher oil price to break even are suffering, such as Russia, Nigeria and Venezuela, as are oil firms generally.
There have been thousands of job losses in the North Sea’s oil industry.
Investment in exploration has also been cut by big oil firms such as Shell, BP, Total and Exxon Mobil.
Meanwhile, the British energy major BP said Tuesday that it will axe more than 4,000 jobs worldwide over the next two years in response to collapsing oil prices.
The company said in a statement that it would “reduce BP upstream staff globally from 24,000 to somewhere below 20,000 by year-end 2017”.
The cutbacks will include 600 job losses at BP’s North Sea activities.
London-listed energy giant BP had already slashed 4,000 jobs last year as it prepared for a prolonged period of low prices.
Brent North Sea crude prices tumbled to fresh 12-year lows on Tuesday and have shed more than 15 percent so far this year.
The oil market had plunged by 35 percent in 2015, its third consecutive annual decline, plagued by chronic oversupply.
Mark Thomas, regional president for BP North Sea, said that “given the well-documented challenges of operating in this maturing region and in toughening market conditions, we need to take specific steps to ensure our business remains competitive and robust”.
“An inevitable outcome of this will be an impact on headcount and we expect a reduction of around 600 staff and agency contractor roles by the end of 2017, with the majority of these taking place this year,” he added.
Oil dived close to $30 per barrel on Tuesday on global oversupply, as OPEC member Nigeria called for an emergency meeting to address collapsing prices that has ravaged revenues and hurt the profits of energy majors.
BP stressed however on Tuesday that it is “committed to the North Sea”.
The group said it would invest about $2 billion of capital into North Sea projects this year.
“This will sustain many hundreds of supply chain contractor jobs going forward,” it added.
British production of oil and gas rose in 2015 for the first time in 15 years but may struggle to maintain the performance amid low energy prices.
Output is expected to have risen by as much as eight percent last year after a strong first 10 months, industry body Oil and Gas UK said last week.
BP profits meanwhile collapsed in the third quarter of 2015 as oil prices halved on the back of the stubborn global supply glut.
That forced the British energy giant to scale back investment and sell more assets, also after it was ravaged by the catastrophic 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
David Elmes, professor at Warwick Business School, said that the news was a reflection that energy prices would remain at low levels for some time.
“BP’s announcement of job cuts is sad news for the staff and communities involved but (they) are a reflection that world prices for oil and gas look set to be lower for longer,” he said.
“World prices have fallen in the past, but recovered soon after. The current drop in prices started more than a year ago and prices are still falling.”
