Labour leader Keir Starmer said if the party wins the general election expected next year it will provide £2.5 billion of subsidies for companies to create jobs in renewable technologies for North Sea workers.
The three technologies to get funding would be green hydrogen, floating windfarms and carbon capture for ongoing oil and gas use.
Executives from 20 energy companies, including Shell and BP, attended a roundtable in Aberdeen with Starmer, shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband and several senior members of Scottish Labour.
Starmer was reported by the Guardian to have argued that oil and gas will still be used to supply energy for the UK, but that the government would need to work with industry and unions to shift more quickly towards zero-carbon technologies.
With Labour also planning to create a new publicly-owned energy company, GB Energy, several local businesses called for it to be located in Aberdeen, historically the principal onshore hub for the North Sea oil and gas industry.
Starmer said the current government is playing “political games, causing uncertainty and investment risk for the sector, [...] costing jobs and hitting people’s pockets. My Labour government will rise above short-termist gimmicks, put the country before our party, and deliver the long-term future of our energy industry”, he said, according to the Guardian.
Last month, the 33rd round of the North Sea licensing round saw Shell awarded the most licences, with BP, Ithaca Energy PLC (LSE:ITH), France's TotalEnergies, and Norwegian groups Equinor and DNO also picking up acreage — later unsuccessfully challenged by Greenpeace.
In the King's speech earlier this month, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak scaled back proposals to deregulate North Sea oil and gas extraction after civil servants cautioned on breaches of international law.