New research from Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) has revealed that the oil and gas industry adds some £1.5 billion to the economy in Yorkshire and the Humber and the North East.
Overall, the industry supports around 14,500 jobs in the two regions, which is about 7% of all the jobs related to oil and gas in the UK. Of these, 9,000 are in Yorkshire and the Humber alone.
In a statement, OEUK’s Director for External Relations, Jenny Stanning, said:
“This research showcases the significant role of the oil and gas industry in the economy of North East England. The companies based in the region help maintain the UK’s supplies of home-produced oil and gas while also building the low carbon energy systems of the future.”
Stanning added that support for domestic energy production would attract the necessary investment to reduce the country’s reliance on energy imports, while supporting UK jobs and still meeting climate change commitments.
While oil and gas will continue to be needed for the coming years, projects in the region are also helping to prepare the country for a low-carbon future. For example, BP, which makes popular industrial products like the Castrol metalworking fluids, is driving the H2Teesside project to produce a gigawatt of blue hydrogen and the HyGreen Teeside project to produce green hydrogen using renewable energy.
The Zero Carbon Humber proposal, meanwhile, aims to establish the first net-zero industrial cluster in the world by bringing together the expertise of some 14 companies from a range of sectors.
