Offshore drilling rigs and a platform supply vessel lay idle on the Cromarty Firth, Scotland. New oil exploration and development of existing fields on the UK continental shelf has declined sharply since the start of the 2014 oil price slump.

Many of the drilling rigs in this frame are "cold stacked"; an industry term used for assets that are preserved or mothballed, usually unmanned, until prospects of new drilling improve.

More than 1,000 oil workers in North East Scotland have lost their jobs since the downturn began last year. Local businesses, from bars to taxis and hotels, have reported fewer customers. The property market, once on of the UK's most buoyant, is reversing direction.