The Highlands and islands could become a new hub for energy jobs and projects if firms in the area seize opportunities at home and abroad, according to an industry leader.
Sidney Johnston, a board member at trade organisation Energy North, said oil and gas and renewables businesses in the region had to compete on a bigger stage to make its energy sector a success.
Mr Johnston, who works for international engineering and project-management company Amec, was speaking ahead of Energy North’s Explore Oil and Gas conference, being held in Inverness today.
Mr Johnston will present a paper at the event, in the Kingsmills Hotel, on how small energy firms can work with the sector’s big players.
He said many oil and gas and renewables companies in the north were small and medium enterprises and that he wanted to see more of them compete for major contracts in the UK and overseas, adding: “I wanted to produce a simple document which suppliers could use to understand how to access opportunities in oil and gas.
“Historically, Aberdeen has been the main hub for oil and gas in Scotland, but when you look at maps of the acreage in UK waters a lot of it is west of Shetland, around Caithness and even off the Western Isles. We need hubs like the Nigg Energy Park so the next bright idea for UK oil and gas development can come from a small innovative company in the likes of Caithness or Lewis.”
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