Oil tycoon Sir Ian Wood, who carried out a review of the industry for the UK Government, forecast that the price could stay at around the $65 a barrel level “for possibly quite a long time, maybe two to three years”.
He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme that that “accentuates the need for a step change in thinking, a step change in mindset, for cost reduction, greater efficiency, collaboration”.
He stated: “We’ve now got to assume the price isn’t going to rise significantly and we’ve got to buckle down and make the industry effectively viable at its present level.”
While he said there would be further job losses in the North Sea, he added that he hoped these could be reduced by companies collaborating more on projects.
Sir Ian said: “Of course there will be further job losses because the figures look pretty terrible just now, but I think will be reduced. There will be some job losses but I do think you will see some real progress on collaboration, particularly on new developments.
“So I hope we will see gradual process in making us more efficient and more effective.”
Recommended for you
