Harbour Energy blames ‘punitive’ taxes as it moves to cut hundreds of jobs

LONDON — Harbour Energy plans to slash hundreds of jobs in the U.K. and will review its investment in a major carbon capture and storage project, the firm announced Wednesday.

The giant North Sea oil and gas producer blamed the row-backs on the government’s tax regime, as it revealed it has launched a review of U.K. operations.

Two hundred and fifty jobs are expected to go across its Aberdeen offices, Harbour said in a statement.

“The review is unfortunately necessary to align staffing levels with lower levels of investment, due mainly to the government’s ongoing punitive fiscal position and a challenging regulatory environment,” said Scott Barr, managing director of Harbour’s U.K. business.

The company also said it was “reviewing the resourcing required” to support the Viking carbon capture and storage project.

Progress on Viking had been “hindered by repeated delays to the government’s track 2 process,” Harbour said.

Harbour’s latest financial results, published in March, showed a swing from earnings of $45 million (£33 million) in 2023 to losses of $93 million (£70 million) in 2024.

Shadow Energy Secretary Andrew Bowie described the developments as “devastating” for north-east Scotland.

“This must be seen as a pivotal moment for the future of British oil and gas. The utter insanity of Labour’s policies on the North Sea. Jobs lost, imports doubled, our country less secure. Urgent change of course required,” he wrote on social media platform X.

A Downing Street spokesperson said: “It’s a commercial decision for that individual company, and I think they’ve made clear that there have been significant pressures from global inflation and supply chain issues in relation to [the] industry. We are committed to working with them to get that project back on track.”