Press & Policy

This article was first published in The Scotsman on 3 July 2026 

When people think about North Sea oil and gas, they tend to think about platforms, reserves and production figures. Those things matter, but they are only part of the story. Behind every major energy project sits a much wider economy: ports, fabricators, engineers, logistics firms, manufacturers, apprentices, project managers, consultants, vessel operators and hundreds of businesses whose expertise has been built up over decades.

That is why the regulatory decisions now facing the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields matter well beyond the oil and gas sector itself. They go to the heart of investment, skilled employment, and business confidence across Scotland and the UK. They are about backing the businesses that will help deliver energy security today, and the transition tomorrow. Despite the current political turmoil, approving both projects once the regulatory process has run its course is a vital step for the Secretary of State for Energy to take.

It takes the best of Scottish business to get projects of this scale off the ground. Adura is steering the work from its headquarters on Union Street in Aberdeen, supported by a workforce of around 1,100 people. But the economic footprint extends far beyond one city.

Lerwick port is currently supporting logistics for the development of Rosebank. North East Scotland is central to project management, engineering, pipeline structures and buoyancy modules. Dundee is contributing mooring systems. Dunfermline is involved in the manufacturing of so-called subsea Christmas trees. Nigg is supporting fabrication. Across the two projects, there are 198 contracts with world-class suppliers, the lion’s share of those here at home.

These contracts translate into skilled jobs, apprenticeships, local spending and economic activity in communities across Scotland. They draw on the expertise, experience, and accumulated know-how that have defined the North Sea for more than half a century.

They represent an industrial base that has delivered for the UK through periods of economic turbulence, geopolitical uncertainty and technological change.

In practical terms, this is the difference between a contract being won, a workshop staying busy, a young apprentice seeing a future in their home town, and a local firm having the confidence to invest in its next piece of equipment. It is the day-to-day economic life that sits behind the language of major projects: the orders placed, the yards kept active, the specialist skills passed on, and the quiet confidence that comes when businesses can see a pipeline of work rather than a cliff edge.

There is a tendency to describe the North Sea as a mature basin as if maturity is the same as decline, but it is not. Mature means tried, tested and experienced. It means a workforce that understands how to deliver complex engineering in one of the most challenging offshore environments in the world. It means companies that have spent decades building capability that needs to be sustained and cannot be recreated overnight once lost.

That is important, because the same supply chain supporting oil and gas today will be essential to the energy system Scotland and the UK want to build in the future. Floating and fixed offshore wind, carbon capture, hydrogen and future low-carbon infrastructure will all depend on many of the same skills: marine logistics, subsea engineering, fabrication, project delivery, safety management and offshore operations.

Granting consent would therefore do more than unlock two energy projects. It would give confidence to firms across Scotland that the UK still values the engineering, logistics, fabrication and offshore expertise built over decades in the North Sea. It would show that these capabilities are not being treated as yesterday’s industry, but as the industrial foundation on which future energy growth will be built.

If that industrial base is weakened by these projects not being approved, the transition will not become easier but harder. We will become more dependent on overseas capability, less capable of capturing the value from new technologies, and less able to ensure that the economic benefits of the transition are felt in Scottish communities. As the think tank Our Scottish Future has pointed out in its recent report, North Sea Energy – a Second Life, a predicted 50,000 job losses in the North Sea by the early 2030s will be accelerated if Rosebank and Jackdaw are not approved.

Rosebank and Jackdaw are already advanced projects. Over £3 billion has been invested to bring them to this point. Together, they are anticipated to stimulate over £28 billion of economic activity (Gross Value Added) across their producing lifespan, 3,500 jobs at peak construction and 125 apprenticeships. Those are significant numbers at any time, but particularly so when governments at both UK and Scottish level are focused on growth, productivity and the future of high-quality industrial employment.

But for Scotland, the issue is not simply whether these two offshore projects proceed. The issue is whether we continue to capture the value of the North Sea through Scottish jobs, Scottish ports, Scottish manufacturers and Scottish engineering expertise. With the right decisions, that industrial base can continue to support the transition, create new skills, sustain high-quality employment and anchor economic activity in communities across the country.

Scotland’s businesses are ready to deliver. From Aberdeen to Lerwick and Dundee to Dunfermline, the capability exists, the supply chain is in place and the opportunity is immediate. Granting consent for Rosebank and Jackdaw would help unlock investment, support growth and ensure that Scotland’s economy benefits from the next chapter of the North Sea, not merely its past.