North Sea jobs cuts in pipeline

Hundreds of lay offs have been announced

Hundreds of North Sea oil jobs are in jeopardy after a series of North-East companies announced workers were being laid off.

Kvaerner Oilfield Products are shedding more than a 100 posts in Aberdeen.

And the Aberdeen-based oil service company Dolphin Drilling issued redundancy notices to some of its 160 workers on two oil rigs.

A company spokesman said the rigs were being laid up after contracts had come to an end.

New tax

He said everyone was being affected by the downtown in activity in the North Sea.

But he said the company was bidding for other work so final job numbers are still uncertain.

The offshore union OILC said another 300 posts will go as drilling activity winds down in other companies.

Union leaders deny the cuts are the result of the Chancellor's new tax on oil profits.

But some claim the tax will undermine any recovery.