North Sea job cuts could reach 40,000 over the next three years, an economist has predicted.
Inverness-based Tony Mackay said if the price of oil averaged out at $80 a barrel, direct employment in the North Sea would fall by 18,700 by the end 2017, with indirect and induced employment bringing the toll up to 40,000.
The prediction is 5,000 more than an earlier report which estimated that 35,000 jobs would be shed over the next five years.
Mr Mackay said the previous report, commissioned by trade body Oil & Gas UK, skills group Opito and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Bis), did not reflect the impact of falling oil prices.
In the monthly economic update provided by his firm, Mackay Consultants, Mr Mackay said: “The report for OGUK and Opito was written before the oil price collapse.”
