A £10million fund to help keep the North Sea oil and gas industry productive was unveiled yesterday.
Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said the innovation fund was now open for the first round of applications for projects looking at improving the integrity and reliability of existing energy assets.
Awards will go to schemes to allow offshore facilities to run effectively and safely using inspection, management and analysis of future integrity.
Mr Ewing said the fund followed on from the launch of the government’s oil and gas strategy earlier this year, which he claimed would help the industry “go from strength to strength”.
He said there were up to 24billion barrels of recoverable oil still remaining in the North Sea, with a potential wholesale value of £1.5trillion.
“We know that there is a great future in oil and gas, and the sector is no stranger to innovation, with the great strides the industry has taken helping to secure our place at the lead of the global industry,” Mr Ewing said.
“The awards made under this fund will help drive that innovation and preserve the vital infrastructure of the industry – the cables, pipes and platforms – to ensure they continue to operate safely and efficiently for the recovery of oil and gas reserves for decades to come.”
The fund will be operated by Scottish Enterprise in partnership with Highland and Islands Enterprise and the Industry Technology Facilitator (ITF), which will work with industry on priority areas for innovation.
Scottish Enterprise oil and gas director David Rennie said: “We know that many of our assets in the North Sea are already, or are close to, operating beyond their original design life. To ensure we capitalise effectively on the future potential we know exists in Scotland’s oil fields it’s vitally important that our assets are secure for the future. This call will help to foster innovation and provide funding for ideas to help bring them to market more quickly.”
Environmental organisation WWF Scotland accused the Scottish Government of trying to “have it both ways” through exploiting renewable energy while “bending over backward” for the oil industry.
Director Richard Dixon said: “We should be using public money to create a low carbon future, not to prop up the profits of oil companies.”
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