Harbour Energy has been criticised for issuing a £82m ($100m) dividend payment to shareholders in the wake of its recent restructuring and redundancy process.
Unite the Union described it as a “blow” for those who have lost their jobs.
The UK’s largest oil and gas producer, said earlier this year it expected to cut around 350 onshore jobs from its UK business from a baseline of around 1,200, though it is understood the final figure numbered less than 100 compulsory redundancies.
Unite the Union industrial officer John Boland said: “Any redundancies are bad for the individuals involved. I think them showing the dividends today will be a blow to those who have been made redundant.
“They should’ve used these dividends to actually keep these individuals in work and put them back into the workforce.
“We’ve had to fight recently to actually get pay awards from them.”
Harbour blamed the windfall tax for the decision, though commentators also noted that the firm had not restructured since the merger of Chrysaor and Premier Oil in 2020.
While its most recent half-year results saw the group slide to a minor post-tax loss, Harbour still generated around £823m ($1bn) in free cash flow, some of which it vowed to use towards the £83m ($100m) dividend paid this month.
The payment on Wednesday saw the company hand out 9.6208 pence per share to those who held stakes in the company as of 8 September, amounting to some $100m, or around £82.31m.
The payout follows the completion of its restructuring earlier this month in which Scott Barr was named executive vice president for North Sea.
He replaced Bob Fennell who is retiring after more than 35 years in the industry.
Harbour restructuring
It is understood by Press & Journal sister website Energy Voice that the majority of those who left Harbour Energy during the redundancy process had opted into a voluntary redundancy scheme, while around 30 were let go in addition to this.
Other measures including the removal of outstanding vacancies, reduced contractor numbers and the offer of voluntary redundancy have made up the remainder.
Last week Harbour Energy said: “Following the completion of the review of our UK organisation, which we previously announced due to reduced future activity levels in the North Sea, we have this week launched Harbour’s new organisation, including the appointment of Scott Barr as the new Executive Vice President for our North Sea business.
“We know this has been a challenging period for our colleagues and thank them for their professionalism and continued safe working throughout.”