GMB: The 'worst of all worlds' as oil and gas decommissioning firm suddenly shutters
Ministers must intervene urgently after the sudden collapse of an offshore decommissioning firm once hailed as crucial to the energy transition, according to GMB Scotland.
Cesscon Decom, supported by at least £2million of public money, had promised to create 100 jobs in Fife and Aberdeen dismantling and recycling obsolete oil and gas rigs.
Instead, the Livingston offices were shuttered without warning last month leaving 20 workers in limbo. They had not been paid since May and fear pension contributions have not been paid since last year.
They were informed of the closure in a four paragraph email from chief executive Lee Hanlon in which he misspells the name of the company and tells staff to contact the government about unpaid wages. Workers have yet to be formally made redundant, leaving them unable to access Universal Credit or other support.
GMB Scotland is calling for urgent assistance for staff affected while warning the closure is only the latest example of how the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is failing to protect oil and gas workers or create new jobs.
Cesscon Decom, launched to dismantle and recycle obsolete oil and gas infrastructure, is now facing liquidation after a wind-up petition was filed at Livingston Sheriff Court by a creditor in England.
In a letter to Scottish Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes and UK Scottish Secretary Ian Murray, GMB Scotland Secretary Louise Gilmour said the firm’s failure exposes the fragility of Scotland's energy transition plans.
She called for an urgent investigation into Cesscon's finances and the use of public funding, after Scottish Enterprise invested £750,000 in the firm with another £1.5million of taxpayers’ money spent preparing its site in Methil. The firm had previously announced another decommissioning site at Aberdeen Harbour.
Gilmour wrote: “Our members have been left high and dry. They have no wages, no pensions, and no support. This is a worst-of-all-worlds outcome.”
The Methil yard had previously been highlighted as a cornerstone in ministers' energy transition strategy to create new jobs in renewables and oil and gas decommissioning.
Gilmour stressed the Fife site remains viable and urged ministers to help secure new contracts and lease agreements to keep the yard operational.
“This isn’t just about one company,” she said. “We are watching North Sea jobs disappear with no renewable alternatives coming through.
“It now appears even decommissioning roles - the supposed bridge to the green economy - are now at risk.”
The closure has emerged weeks after polling revealed only one in five Scots believe the transition from oil and gas to renewable energy will create jobs.
A nationwide survey showed Scots have more at stake in the drive to cut emissions than anywhere else in the UK but far less confidence it will deliver economic or climate benefits.
The UK and Scottish governments insist a “just transition” will create hundreds of thousands of jobs in renewables for former oil and gas workers but the poll of 2100 people across the UK reveals most Scots are unconvinced.
The YouGov survey, commissioned by GMB and Prospect trade unions, suggests 17 per cent of Scots (around 568,000) work in energy or know someone who does, a far higher proportion than anywhere else in the UK.
However, less than half (47 per cent) feel positive about the transition from oil and gas to renewable energy - lower than in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - while 21 per cent feel negative, more than any of the other home nations.
Almost one in three (29 per cent) fear the energy transition will cost jobs in Scotland, again the highest proportion across the UK and almost three times the proportion in England (11 per cent), while only 17 per cent of Scots think it will increase job opportunities, the lowest level of optimism across the country.
The unions have launched a campaign group, Climate Jobs UK, to ensure workers and jobs are at the centre of the debate on decarbonisation.
