Sturgeon: the falling price of oil does pose a risk to jobs in the North Sea

To help the industry, the Scottish Government is setting up an energy jobs taskforce.

Ms Sturgeon, who announced the move on a visit to Aberdeen, said the new body would help "make sure that partners are working across the sector both to maintain jobs and to mitigate the potential impact of any losses".

Labour has accused SNP ministers of "sitting on their hands" and failing to tackle the impact of plummeting oil prices.

Scottish finance spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: "The falling oil price is the biggest threat to jobs in Scotland since Ravenscraig, and the Scottish Government has been silent on the issue."

With the price of oil having recently gone below 50 US dollars a barrel for the first time since 2009, energy analysts Wood Mackenzie warned that if the price slipped below the 40 US dollar mark operators could consider closing down wells.

Wood Mackenzie told Scottish Energy News that with prices at 50 US dollars a barrel, oil production would cost more than its value in 17 countries, including both the UK and the US.

If oil prices fall to 40 US dollars a barrel it warned that 1.6% of global supply would become "cash negative".

Robert Plummer, a corporate research analyst with Wood Mackenzie told Scottish Energy News: "The point at which producing oil fields become cash negative is key in assessing how far the oil price could fall. Once the oil price reaches these levels, producers have a sometimes complex decision to continue producing, losing money on every barrel produced, or to halt production, which will reduce supply."

But he added. "Operators may prefer to continue producing oil at a loss rather than stop production - especially for large projects such as oil sands and mature fields in the North Sea."

Ms Sturgeon said: "The North Sea has made an enormous contribution to the Scottish and UK economies over the last 40 years. It is now vital, in order to prolong the life of the industry beyond 2050 and maximise economic benefits, that the UK Government maintains the momentum for fiscal and regulatory change in the oil and gas sector."

The First Minister added: "The recent drop in the price of a barrel of crude oil, combined with the mismanagement of oil and gas fiscal policy by the UK Government, and other challenges facing the industry, pose a threat to a number of jobs.

"That's why I have established the energy jobs taskforce, to make sure that partners are working across the sector both to maintain jobs and to mitigate the potential impact of any losses."

The new taskforce will be chaired by Lena Wilson, the chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, and will meet for the first time before the end of this month.

"I have no doubt that under the leadership of Lena Wilson, this will be positive for the industry," Ms Sturgeon said.

Ms Wilson said: "I am delighted to have been asked by the First Minister to chair the energy jobs task force. The energy industry as a whole is crucial to the Scottish economy with the oil and gas sector alone supporting almost 2000 Scottish supply chain companies and 225,000 jobs across the country.

"This is why our initial focus will be on oil and gas and the current challenges facing contractors and employees."

The taskforce will be made up of key figures from the Scottish Energy Advisory Board (SEAB), including the Scottish Government, training body Skills development Scotland, local councils, the industry body Oil and Gas UK and trade unions.

Ms Sturgeon also announced measures to help Scottish oil and gas apprentices who are threatened with redundancy, guaranteeing them either a new job or continued training.

She said: "The oil and gas industry is a real success story for Scotland and will continue to be in the years ahead. That is why we need to develop our skills base and support apprentices in the sector.

"It is vitally important that we continue to develop the skills of the young women and men that have already identified oil and gas as their careers of choice.

"I am delighted to confirm that we will provide an increase in the financial incentive that will enable firms to re-employ any modern apprentice in the industry who faces redundancy and where necessary allow them to continue with their off the job training.

"I hope this practical proposal provides real reassurance to apprentices in the sector."

Both the Scottish cabinet and the SEAB will meet in Aberdeen on February 16, Ms Sturgeon added.

The First Minister said: "I expect all cabinet secretaries will be out and about speaking to the community and those in industry, to establish what more can be usefully done over the coming months.

"I will also co-chair a meeting of the Scottish Energy Advisory Board meeting, bringing Ministers, academics and industry experts together to get a clear understanding of the issues facing the sector in Scotland."

New Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy met with key figures from the oil and gas sector during a visit to Aberdeen last week.

But Ms Baillie claimed that "oil jobs appear to be an afterthought for the first minister, who only contacted union officials in Aberdeen to arrange a meeting on Monday".

The Labour MSP added: "We know why the SNP are sitting on their hands. If they take the oil crisis seriously, it undermines their entire electoral strategy.

"The SNP's General Election campaign revolves around binning Barnett. This would mean a straight choice between huge jobs losses in the oil industry or billions of pounds of cuts to public services

"Binning Barnett would be dangerous for Scotland. Scottish Labour will campaign to keep the Barnett bonus for Scotland. The SNP cannot ignore a crisis which threatens jobs in Scotland now for their own political aims in May.

"Scottish Labour have outlined how to tackle the oil crisis, with the establishment of a resilience fund, established through Barnett consequentials, to protect local economies faced with a significant jobs crisis.

"Scotland needs a Government that will stand up for jobs and protect public services. The SNP have no intention of doing either."

Speaking on a visit to the offices of Sea Energy in Westhill, Aberdeenshire, Ms Sturgeon said the Scottish Government would provide an incentive of up to £5,000 to employers to take on apprentices facing redundancy.

Insisting that the industry could recover from its current difficulties, she said: "Most commentators who look ahead predict at some point prices will start to rise. Opec itself in its world oil outlook predicted nominal prices to the end of the decade of around 100 dollars a barrel. Prices will inevitably rise again but while prices are at the level they're at just now we need to make sure we're supporting the industry.

"This is an industry with a very strong past, it makes a massive contribution to the Scottish economy but with 24 billion barrels of oil still potentially to be recovered from the North Sea, it's an industry with a very strong future if we do the right thing now to support it."

The First Minister called on UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey, who will visit Aberdeen tomorrow along with Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael, to take urgent action.

She said: "What the industry is crying out for is action to be taken now. We've heard a lot of talk from the UK Government and it sounds positive talk but I think we need to know now when exactly these tax changes are going to be introduced.

"We're calling for a general investment allowance which has to be introduced by the budget at the latest and I think it should be made retrospective in terms of its application.

"We need to hear precisely what the UK Government plans are on the supplementary charge because there is a growing call cross-industry for that to be reduced substantially, and there's a real case for an exploration tax credit to deal with the relatively low rates of exploration and allow new entrants and smaller companies to get more active.

"These are very practical suggestions and I think what the UK Government will be judged on tomorrow is not warm words but specific actions that they're committing to take and committing to take now."