I worked in oil industry for 30 years, and there's no future in it. But we can make one for North Sea workers
We need to invest in renewables and stop pretending that oil and gas will save us, writes John Bolland
When Donald Trump visited Scotland, he brought with him the same tired old story: that Scotland’s future lies beneath the waves in yet more oil and gas. I’ve worked in that story. For more than 30 years, I lived it.
Like many in north-east Scotland, I entered the oil and gas industry to make a living and support my family. I was a working-class lad with kids to feed, a mortgage to pay, and – for a long time – a belief that what I was doing was part of something essential, something skilled, something to be proud of. And in many ways, it was. But here’s the truth: it was also part of something broken.
Over time, I came to see the industry’s promises to go green as hollow. When shareholder profits were threatened, the talk of sustainability evaporated. It took me years – too many – to come to terms with what that meant. I was selling something that is destroying the world my children and grandchildren will grow up in.
The oil and gas myth
It wasn’t easy to walk away. The oil industry pays well. The work is challenging, even glamorous if you’re into big steel and high stakes. And culturally, it draws you in – the banter, the shared graft, the commitment to see projects through. But in 2014, I left. I had to. The weight of the contradiction – between the provider and the polluter – had become too heavy.
Since then, I’ve tried to use my voice differently. I’ve joined protests. I’ve written poems, stories and articles. I’ve worked with others to raise the alarm. Because what frightens me now isn’t just what oil and gas are doing to our planet – it’s the myth that they’re our only option.
That’s the lie Trump peddles. That’s the lie our own politicians risk repeating when they talk about “maximising economic recovery” instead of building a real transition.
A moral obligation
Here’s what I believe: there is no future in oil. But there is a future for the people who work in it. The engineers, riggers, safety officers, project managers – these are people with extraordinary skills and commitment. But the projects must change. We should be building infrastructure for the future, not squeezing the last drops of profit from a dying system.
A just transition isn’t just a slogan. It’s a moral obligation – to workers, to communities, and to the generations who will live with the consequences of what we choose now. And the choice is clear: we can invest in renewables, in community energy, in public transport and green industry – or we can keep pretending that oil will save us, long after it’s clear it won’t.
Every cubic metre of carbon dioxide matters. Every year we delay makes the crisis worse. We’ve already left it too long – I know I did. But delay is no longer an option. Not for Scotland. Not for the world. It’s time to stop drilling and start building.
John Bolland is a poet, writer and artist based in north-east Scotland. He previously worked in management and consultancy roles in the oil and gas industry in North America, South-East Asia, West Africa, Australia and the European Continental shelf.
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