OFFSHORE union RMT accused North Sea operator Ithaca Energy today of extracting mammoth profits and dividends while benefiting from job losses in the supply chain.

Ithaca, which contracts major offshore services covering production, maintenance and catering, paid a £127 million dividend for the first quarter of 2025, and reported a pre-tax profit of £391m in the first half of the year.

RMT says the firm now stands to financially benefit from cuts driven by the crisis at firms such as Petrofac, to whom it contracts services.

Last month, Petrofac, which is one of the biggest North Sea oil and gas contractors, applied for administration, putting 2,000 jobs at risk.

RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said: “Ithaca Energy is making huge profits and dividends from North Sea oil and gas, yet the workers who deliver those profits are being thrown on the scrap heap.

“It is completely unacceptable that Petrofac and other contractors are making redundancies on the same installations that are delivering millions in dividends to Ithaca’s shareholders.”

The union said it will continue to pressure the government for stronger worker protections across offshore energy.

A Petrofac spokesperson said: “Petrofac personnel on Ithaca Energy’s assets are not currently subject to a redundancy process and operations continue as normal.

“Petrofac’s Asset Solutions business and Ithaca Energy are working together to implement a late life strategy for the FPF-1 floating production facility and Alba floating storage unit, to manage the transition to cessation of production and sail away in 2026.”

Ithaca was contacted for comment.