It’s not the start to the week that Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, would have been hoping for: more than 2,000 private sector jobs in Scotland at risk from the collapse of Petrofac, the London-listed oilfield services group.

Its slide into insolvency was triggered by last week’s cancellation of a major contract by its biggest customer, but the failure of a company once valued at more than £6bn has been a long time coming.

Money blog: ‘We protect UK from attack, our salaries can be limitless’

Administrators at Teneo will now attempt to salvage what they can from Petrofac’s wreckage.

“The group’s operations will continue to trade, and options for alternative Restructuring and [sale] solutions are being actively explored with its key creditors,” Petrofac said on Monday morning.

“When appointed, administrators will work alongside Executive Management to preserve value, operational capability and ongoing delivery across the Group’s operating and trading entities.”

For thousands of employees, the future is now uncertain, although people close to the company say they are hopeful that a buyer can be found swiftly for its North Sea operations, with one suggesting that it could even happen in the coming days.

That would be a relief to Mr Miliband, whose energy policy has come under growing scrutiny in recent months amid dire warnings about the future of Britain’s offshore oil industry.

More than 2,000 Scotland-based jobs are at risk as oil and energy services group Petrofac has applied for administration.

The group’s operations will continue to trade, and options for restructuring of the company and a possible merger or acquisition are being actively explored with its key creditors, the company said on Monday.

People close to the company say they are hopeful a buyer can be found swiftly for its North Sea operations, with one suggesting that it could even happen in the coming days.

Money blog: ‘We protect the UK, our salaries can be limitless’

Administrators will work alongside company management to “preserve value, operational capability and ongoing delivery”, its announcement read.

News of a possible insolvency announcement was first reported by Sky News.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and other ministers have been briefed on the situation.

An advisory firm, Kroll, had been engaged by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to work with ministers and officials on the unfolding crisis for the company.

What is Petrofac?

Petrofac employs about 7,300 people globally, according to a recent stock exchange filing.

It designs, constructs and operates offshore equipment for energy companies.

The company has been valued at more than £6bn but has been struggling with debt.

It also faced a Serious Fraud Office investigation, which resulted in a 2021 conviction for failing to prevent bribery, and the payment of millions of pounds in penalties.

Founded in 1981 in Texas, the business has been in talks about a far-reaching financial restructuring for more than a year.

A formal restructuring plan was sanctioned by the High Court in May this year with the aim of writing off much of its debt and injecting new cash into the business.

This was subsequently overturned, prompting talks with creditors about a revised agreement.

A lobbying group representing UK start-ups will this week warn Rachel Reeves against a tax raid on limited liability partnerships (LLPs), arguing that it would hit the backers of Britain’s most innovative companies.

Sky News has seen a letter to be sent to the chancellor on Monday, in which the Startup Coalition will argue that imposing employers’ National Insurance Contributions (NICs) on venture capital funds could make UK fund launches “commercially unviable”.

Venture capital firms, along with private equity firms, law firms and accountants were alarmed last week by speculation that Ms Reeves was planning to raise close to £2bn by taxing LLPs in this way.

Treasury officials are said to be in talks about the move ahead of next month’s crucial budget statement.

“Combined with last year’s carried interest reforms, this is the second budget where VC risks collateral damage from policies not designed for it – and the combination of these changes could raise VCs’ overall tax burden by around 30%,” Dom Hallas, executive director of the Startup Coalition, will say in the letter.

“Any additional tax on partnership profits directly reduces the working capital available to investment teams.

“For emerging managers, often operating at or below cost in their early funds, these changes could make UK fund launches commercially unviable.

“For more established funds, they would accelerate an existing trend: partners and decision-makers relocating to other jurisdictions.

“Fewer UK partners mean fewer meetings with British founders, fewer term sheets signed here, and less capital flowing into high-growth British companies.”

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The group’s intervention risks embarrassing the chancellor, given her pledge on Friday to “supercharge innovation” with a new unit aimed at so-called scale-up companies.

Mr Hallas’s letter will call on the chancellor to protect venture capital fund structures from new taxes “while allowing the government to make changes to the wider LLP regime or similar areas”.

He will also urge her to “differentiate [venture capital] from private equity in the tax system, aligning treatment with its public-interest role in innovation”.