The UK’s offshore oil and gas supply chain is worth at least £35billion a year, according to reports from trade body Oil & Gas UK and business services major EY.
Turnover increased by £11.4billion between 2008 and 2012, with an increase of 290 companies in that same period.
More than 40% of the £35billion was generated via export of goods and services, though this proportion has remained static for five years.
The supply chain also accounts for some 200,000 jobs – up by over 21,000.
Much of the growth has been fuelled by the current North Sea projects boom.
The numbers were compiled from results filed at Companies House for 2012.
EY examined over 3,000 companies actively involved in the supply chain, of which 1,585 were identified as UK registered and with at least 50% of turnover generated in the oil and gas sector in 2012.
Watch our exclusive interview with Michael Fallon about the report findings below
Those 1,585 companies form the basis of the report published by OGUK. This reinforces the positive note of the EY study, authored by Alex Millward. It provides further details on the size and composition of three selected sub-sectors: engineering, operations, maintenance and decommissioning contractors; drilling and well equipment design and manufacture and marine and subsea contractors and equipment.
Gordon Ballard, chairman of OGUK and UK chairman of Schlumberger, said of the reports’ findings: “£35billion in turnover marks a real achievement for our industry.
“The completion of this project is a real milestone for the sector and for the strategy, resulting in the most thorough piece of work ever undertaken to quantify the economic contribution of the oil and gas supply chain to the UK, and provide the market intelligence behind it.”
OGUK’s business development director, Stephen Marcos Jones, said: “Both the Scottish and UK governments recognise that to stay as a global leader, we need to continue to work together to promote our advantage in the oil and gas sector and increase exports, helping to create jobs and growth.
“Just over half of the companies featured in this project are based outside Scotland and we are seeing very strong regional centres, in particular in the east of England, the north-east and London, which act as hubs for fabrication, servicing the southern North Sea and commerce respectively.”
Energy Minster Michael Fallon, who was in Aberdeen for yesterday’s launch said: “We now have a very clear snapshot of the breadth and depth of the upstream supply chain.”
Scottish Energy Minister, Fergus Ewing said: “As the report notes, given the history of the UK North Sea development, it comes as no surprise that Scotland dominates the geographic footprint of the UK upstream oil and gas supply chain.”
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