I would say Chevron's decision re Rosebank is a shot across the bows of the service sector as a whole in the oil industry here in the UK.
North Sea/W Shetland is - perhaps inevitably - high cost, and with those costs rising, eg. pay generally, it's going to take a big effort to alleviate this.
Despite the oil price, drilling away from development drilling has been pretty poor in the UKCS this year, and the reason is not solely down to a lack of rigs. We'll see how next year goes. It's never easy to predict oil prices, but (thankfully) $150 oil as predicted previously isn't coming to pass just yet. If Iran behaves itself, and with the likes of shale oil, the oil price may indeed soften, not harden.
I hope there isn't a pattern here, but with Shell (Fram) last year, now Chevron (Rosebank) and Statoil (Bressay) all deferring projects, it has to be a concern.
Talisman are looking to exit the province, and Chevron with the Rosebank decision are perhaps thinking along those lines too in the medium term.
What do the guys/girls that work and fly in the UKCS think over the next few years?