Europe’s oil capital since the 1970s, Aberdeen in Scotland, had not fully recovered from the 2015-2016 price crash when the pandemic triggered another downturn five years later. Then came the war in Ukraine in 2022, the energy crisis, price spikes, and the UK government’s decision to raid the profits of UK North Sea operators with the so-called “windfall tax”, which has now increased the combined tax on oil and gas firms to a massive 78%. Aberdeen and the surrounding Aberdeenshire area have been losing oil and gas jobs since…