Offshore oil and gas at the heart of the fight for Aberdeen South

This area of Aberdeen has been a key hub to the North Sea oil and gas industry for over 50 years.

But last year saw another decline in the number of ships docking here.

Voters will head to the polls this Thursday in a constituency, once represented by Donald Dewar, where this topic isn’t far from people’s minds.

Stephen Flynn, the Scottish Government’s new Economy, Tourism and Transport Cabinet Secretary, won the seat in the 2019 General Election.

He triggered a by-election after winning the Aberdeen Deeside and North Kincardine seat at the Scottish Election in May.

The SNP are now looking to keep the seat as the debate over the future of oil and gas production looms large.

Bob Sanguinetti, Port of Aberdeen’s Chief Executive, said they were now having to manage the gap between a reduction in oil activity and a slow-progressing offshore wind sector.

Speaking to STV News, he said: “I think it is fair to say oil and gas activity is reducing much more rapidly than anticipated. At the same time, we see offshore wind-related activity and development not taking place as fast or at the pace that was predicted.”

SNP candidate Richard Thomson: 'We need to make use of the resources we have' — SNP candidate Richard Thomson: ‘We need to make use of the resources we have’ STV News

The SNP wants to change this, and they are keen to talk about the importance of energy security.

Their candidate, Richard Thomson, wants to ditch the presumption against new drilling licenses and emphasise the need to use the resources we have here.

He said: “The world has changed since that wording appeared in that draft energy strategy. The new energy strategy has been promised to be published in the first 100 days.

“We need to be making use of the resources we have while it is in our interest to do so.

“We are quite consistent on this. We need to make the most of our own energy resources here, subject to them passing the climate tests that the UK Government set, which the Conservatives introduced.

“We need to maximise the use of the resources that we have.”

The Conservatives and their candidate, Douglas Lumsden, have thrown everything at this race.

They see it as a referendum on the future of the industry and, despite thousands of jobs being lost under the last Conservative Government, they believe their party is that voice.

Current MSP Douglas Lumsden: 'No other party will defend oil and gas' — Current MSP Douglas Lumsden: ‘No other party will defend oil and gas’ STV News

Current MSP Douglas Lumsden said: “No other party is going to defend the oil and gas industry.

“What we’re seeing just now is the accelerated decline with jobs going that don’t need to be going, and I think that’s the message we need to fix.”

The industry says the windfall tax introduced by the last Conservative Government is damaging investment and jobs, with Lumsden saying the tax needs to go.

But the Conservatives face a tough battle with Reform UK, who also support more drilling in the North Sea.

Reform candidate Jo Hart told STV News: “It’s a little bit of a fallacy that, just because we don’t have a production carbon footprint here in the UK, we’re importing from another country that the carbon emissions are taking place.

“So are we really helping with the emissions of what we’re doing? It’s just a tick box exercise that the production carbon is reduced.

“But we’re importing and paying a lot more and probably creating more emissions by importing it, but it looks good for the UK.”

Reform candidate Jo Hart supports more drilling in the North Sea STV News

The Scottish Liberal Democrats candidate, Mel Sullivan, also believes the answer lies in our own waters.

She said: “We’re going to need oil and gas for a long time to come, and for as long as we do need it, we should be using our own.

“It’s got a lower carbon footprint than importing from somewhere like America, and we definitely shouldn’t be importing from Russia if we don’t have to.

“We need to be getting homes insulated, heat pumps – there’s a lot of jobs in that, and we need those jobs to be here in the North East.”

The UK Labour government have effectively said no to granting new licenses and extended the windfall tax, but Labour candidate Nurul Hoque Ali believes he can help convince UK colleagues to change their mind.

'I can influence change over windfall tax': Labour candidate Nurul Hoque Ali — ‘I can influence change over windfall tax’: Labour candidate Nurul Hoque Ali STV News

He said: “I appreciate people will see that – but it’s also the Labour government and the Labour candidate, me, that can make a difference on those things.

“The windfall tax was meant to go away, but a certain war in the Middle East has stopped our ambitions to take that away sooner than we would have wanted.”

The Scottish Greens are arguing that investment should be in the renewables sector.

But they remain a lone voice on this proposal.

Candidate Jorg Shelton Eckstein said: “Lets say we open up new licenses: The best case scenario is that we slow down the decline – it’s not a guarantee that it slows it.

“You’re just holding onto jobs for a little bit longer – and yes, there is an argument for doing so – but we could be using this time and using the money that we have to really push out more renewables far, far faster.”

Whatever the result here, it will have repercussions far beyond the boundaries of this constituency.

Greens' Jorg Shelton-Eckstein: 'Scotland should focus time and money on renewables' — Greens’ Jorg Shelton-Eckstein: ‘Scotland should focus time and money on renewables’ STV News

As well as a new MP, it will also send a clear message to Westminster about the future direction of the oil and gas industry.

But this is a diverse seat with many other issues to address.

Denny Andonova, political editor at the Press and Journal, says the wealth inequality across the constituency shows the challenges facing the candidates.

She said: “We go from affluent suburbs like Milltimber, Peterculter and Cults to areas that are facing significant challenges, such as Torry. I think this has perhaps become one of the biggest challenges for the candidates, because they have had to show that support for the energy industry, which is important, but at the same time convince voters they understand the everyday issues they are facing.”

This by-election might not be at the centre of people’s attention on Thursday, but it is still one with plenty at stake.