Ewan Gibbs
@ewangibbs.bsky.social
Historian of work, energy, industry and protest. Author of Coal Country. Now writing An Injury to All: The Unmaking of the British Working Class. Not getting that much more right wing as I get older.
Exactly and often in fact the reality is much more quotidian!
November 20, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Exactly and often in fact the reality is much more quotidian!
The transition narrative becomes temping because it actually centres agency with government. Either in condemnatory or complimentary terms. Increasingly this is in fact hubris given both Scottish and UK government inaction and failure to anticipate and plan for closuers.
November 20, 2025 at 6:04 PM
The transition narrative becomes temping because it actually centres agency with government. Either in condemnatory or complimentary terms. Increasingly this is in fact hubris given both Scottish and UK government inaction and failure to anticipate and plan for closuers.
Wind energy and electricity generation is a thoroughly different kind of industry to oil - it's essentially a utility - not a lucrative globally oriented export industry. There are obviously overlaps in potential for using existing infrastructures and skills though.
November 20, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Wind energy and electricity generation is a thoroughly different kind of industry to oil - it's essentially a utility - not a lucrative globally oriented export industry. There are obviously overlaps in potential for using existing infrastructures and skills though.
Politicians broadly of the right have united in condemning closure as the result of government policy, ignoring powerful underlying economic and geological forces. But politicians on the left have also treated wind energy as though it happened to be here as a replacement for oil.
November 20, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Politicians broadly of the right have united in condemning closure as the result of government policy, ignoring powerful underlying economic and geological forces. But politicians on the left have also treated wind energy as though it happened to be here as a replacement for oil.
Petroineos, the owners of Grangemouth, and the various offshore operators, are motivated by profit not environmentalism in taking closure decisions. That is true also of Exxon, the Texan oil major who own the Mossmorran petrochemicals plant in Fife which is to close in February.
November 20, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Petroineos, the owners of Grangemouth, and the various offshore operators, are motivated by profit not environmentalism in taking closure decisions. That is true also of Exxon, the Texan oil major who own the Mossmorran petrochemicals plant in Fife which is to close in February.
Grangemouth refinery was sold off by BP to INEOS in 2005 along eventually with the rest of BP's interests in the complex. Closure threats loomed over the lockout imposed to break union power in 2013. They resurfaced a decade later, eventually coming to fruition this spring.
November 20, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Grangemouth refinery was sold off by BP to INEOS in 2005 along eventually with the rest of BP's interests in the complex. Closure threats loomed over the lockout imposed to break union power in 2013. They resurfaced a decade later, eventually coming to fruition this spring.
The 2014 oil crash plunged the North Sea sector into a major crisis. Tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of jobs have been lost in the decade or so since. None of this was connected to climate policy or movement towards wind energy - it was down to geology and economics.
November 20, 2025 at 6:02 PM
The 2014 oil crash plunged the North Sea sector into a major crisis. Tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of jobs have been lost in the decade or so since. None of this was connected to climate policy or movement towards wind energy - it was down to geology and economics.
North Sea oil and gas production peaked around the turn of the millennium, a long time before licencing bans were up for debate or before the prospects of a large offshore wind industry was a leading part of energy policy ambitions in Scotland.
November 20, 2025 at 6:02 PM
North Sea oil and gas production peaked around the turn of the millennium, a long time before licencing bans were up for debate or before the prospects of a large offshore wind industry was a leading part of energy policy ambitions in Scotland.
Essentially in Scotland we're dealing with two processes which overlap with one another but don't have that much to do with each other:
1) The gradual exhaustion of economically viable oil and gas reserves.
2) The growth of onshore and offshore wind electricity generation.
1) The gradual exhaustion of economically viable oil and gas reserves.
2) The growth of onshore and offshore wind electricity generation.
November 20, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Essentially in Scotland we're dealing with two processes which overlap with one another but don't have that much to do with each other:
1) The gradual exhaustion of economically viable oil and gas reserves.
2) The growth of onshore and offshore wind electricity generation.
1) The gradual exhaustion of economically viable oil and gas reserves.
2) The growth of onshore and offshore wind electricity generation.
Jobs will go and are going to go in oil and gas - much more than have gone at Mossmoran and Grangemouth have gone offshore and in the supply chain in the last 10 years. Failure of public leadership in shaping a future for those workers in Scottish and UK level is the sad reality.
November 20, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Jobs will go and are going to go in oil and gas - much more than have gone at Mossmoran and Grangemouth have gone offshore and in the supply chain in the last 10 years. Failure of public leadership in shaping a future for those workers in Scottish and UK level is the sad reality.
Holyrood doesn't have the political will either though.
November 20, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Holyrood doesn't have the political will either though.
Both governments are culpable here - as I've said in several threads over the last couple of days.
Seeking to excuse a government which has repeatedly declared its commitment to the just transition is partisan in the most unhelpful way.
Seeking to excuse a government which has repeatedly declared its commitment to the just transition is partisan in the most unhelpful way.
November 20, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Both governments are culpable here - as I've said in several threads over the last couple of days.
Seeking to excuse a government which has repeatedly declared its commitment to the just transition is partisan in the most unhelpful way.
Seeking to excuse a government which has repeatedly declared its commitment to the just transition is partisan in the most unhelpful way.
Government has divested responsibility for the future of workers and communities reliant on oil and gas employment to multinational and foreign governments, to the cost of all of us who depend on their labour every day.
November 20, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Government has divested responsibility for the future of workers and communities reliant on oil and gas employment to multinational and foreign governments, to the cost of all of us who depend on their labour every day.
Scotland's unjust transition is proceeding at the dictate of oil and gas multinationals like Texan Exxon, Jersey registered Petrofac, the Chinese state-owned PetroChina and Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS.
November 20, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Scotland's unjust transition is proceeding at the dictate of oil and gas multinationals like Texan Exxon, Jersey registered Petrofac, the Chinese state-owned PetroChina and Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS.
Unfortunately the same thing happened at Grangemouth. It has even been reported that ministers were aware as early as 2022 that the refinery closure would be announced but no plan was made for the infrastructure and the workforce who have been scattered to the wind.
November 20, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Unfortunately the same thing happened at Grangemouth. It has even been reported that ministers were aware as early as 2022 that the refinery closure would be announced but no plan was made for the infrastructure and the workforce who have been scattered to the wind.
It's important responsibility is placed firmly with multinationals - be they Petrofac, Petroineos or Exxon. Governments have also failed here but companies raking in billions who have profited from Scottish workers and our natural resources who are causing devastation now.
November 19, 2025 at 12:12 PM
It's important responsibility is placed firmly with multinationals - be they Petrofac, Petroineos or Exxon. Governments have also failed here but companies raking in billions who have profited from Scottish workers and our natural resources who are causing devastation now.
@unitescotland.bsky.social are absolutely right that large multinationals should not be able to continuously threaten the livelihoods of Scottish workers and communities. Insofar as we have a transition this is the grossly unjust form that it has taken in Aberdeen, Grangemouth and Fife.
November 19, 2025 at 12:11 PM
@unitescotland.bsky.social are absolutely right that large multinationals should not be able to continuously threaten the livelihoods of Scottish workers and communities. Insofar as we have a transition this is the grossly unjust form that it has taken in Aberdeen, Grangemouth and Fife.