Aberdeen Headquartered Company Confirms Intention to Reduce Jobs

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Aberdeen Headquartered Company Confirms Intention to Reduce Jobs

A spokesperson for Aberdeen-headquartered Well-Safe Solutions has confirmed to Rigzone that the company intends to reduce jobs. “The knock-on effects of the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) have seen spend delayed on decommissioning across the industry, which is affecting both our rig and engineering activity,” the spokesperson told Rigzone. “It’s with regret that Well-Safe Solutions confirms […]

A spokesperson for Aberdeen-headquartered Well-Safe Solutions has confirmed to Rigzone that the company intends to reduce jobs.

“The knock-on effects of the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) have seen spend delayed on decommissioning across the industry, which is affecting both our rig and engineering activity,” the spokesperson told Rigzone.

“It’s with regret that Well-Safe Solutions confirms its intention to reduce positions aboard the Well-Safe Guardian while it is on standby. We must also resize our onshore team to reflect the reduction in activity throughout 2025,” the spokesperson added.

The Well-Safe spokesperson said the company currently going through a collective consultation process “exploring options to safeguard as many colleagues as possible and are supporting them through this challenging time”.

“It is proposed that 45 positions may be affected onshore. With the Well-Safe Guardian on standby, we will retain 34 positions onboard in readiness for our return to a client project,” the spokesperson added.

“This is not a position we expected to find ourselves in, but we must make this hard decision now to protect the business ahead of an expected increase in global project availability for 2026 and beyond,” the spokesperson continued.

The Well-Safe spokesperson told Rigzone that the Well-Safe Defender and Well-Safe Protector are not affected by the current consultations.

“Well-Safe Solutions is continuing to deploy its personnel and assets onto relevant projects as we help our clients to realise their energy transition objectives,” the spokesperson told Rigzone.

The EPL is an additional temporary tax on a company’s ring-fence profits, an oil and gas price mechanism consultation posted on the UK government website on March 5 states, highlighting that the measure was introduced in May 2022.

“The levy was implemented in response to extraordinary profits made by oil and gas companies driven by global events, including resurgent demand for energy post Covid-19 and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia,” the consultation notes.

Set at a rate of 38 percent, the levy takes the headline rate of tax on upstream oil and gas activities to 78 percent, the consultation states, adding that the EPL will end in March 2030 or earlier if both oil and gas prices fall to, or below, prices set out in the Energy Security Investment Mechanism.

The consultation notes that, once the EPL ends, the government is committed to ensuring that there is a permanent mechanism in place to respond to future oil and gas price shocks.

Rigzone contacted HM Treasury (HMT) and the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) for comment on Well-Safe’s statement. HMT declined to comment. DESNZ has not responded to Rigzone at the time of writing.

Well-Safe Solutions describes itself on its website as “the complete package for well decommissioning”. The company’s fleet comprises the Well-Safe Guardian, the Well-Safe Protector, and the Well-Safe Defender, the company’s site shows.

The Well-Safe Guardian is described on the company’s site as “a highly efficient and experienced Earl & Wright 700 series midwater semi-submersible unit, with a strong track record in multi-well, multi-operator campaigns”.

The Well-Safe Protector is described on the site as “a heavy duty, harsh environment independent leg cantilever design jack-up rig with an extensive, enviable history in the North Sea” and the Well-Safe Defender is described as “an enhanced pacesetter semi-submersible asset”.

In a release posted on its website last month, Well-Safe Solutions announced that it had received a further contract extension from Italian energy major Eni Energy Netherlands BV to decommission selected subsea and platform wells across Eni’s portfolio in the Dutch sector of the North Sea.

“Eni have recently exercised another 90-day option for the Well-Safe Protector jack-up asset under a newly agreed contract amendment. This work is to be executed in direct continuation with the previously declared option which commenced in November 2024,” Well-Safe said in that release.

“Upon the completion of this latest option with Eni, the Well-Safe Protector will move directly onto the Spirit Energy contract announced by Well-Safe Solutions in November 2024,” it added.

“These multi-operator commitments will see the Well-Safe Protector committed until at least August 2025, with further longer-term options agreed with Eni as part of the newly signed contract amendment,” Well-Safe continued.

To contact the author, email [email protected]

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Gemini Robotics brings AI into the physical world

Research

Published
12 March 2025

Authors
Carolina Parada

Introducing Gemini Robotics, our Gemini 2.0-based model designed for roboticsAt Google DeepMind,

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