They’ve been drilling oil out of the ground in Texas for over 100 years – so it’s no surprise that Houston has played host to the world’s foremost oil and gas event, the Offshore Technology Conference, for the past 45 years.
And despite it being over 4,500 miles from Aberdeen to Houston, Scotland’s role as major player in the global oil and gas industry, means are well represented at this year’s event.
In fact this year we have a record delegation of 63 companies at OTC with Scottish Development International, the international arm of Scotland’s enterprise agencies. The delegation of companies, led by Energy Minister Fergus Ewing, also includes 30 companies attending OTC for first time.
This increase in attendance mirrors the wider growth in international activity by our oil and gas supply chain. New figures we’ve released this week at OTC, show that total international sales in this area grew to £10 billion in 2012-13, an increase of 22% on the previous year.
The survey also found that international activity now accounts for over half of total supply chain sales from Scotland at a record 50.2%. This growth looks set to continue with the companies surveyed forecasting that their total international sales would grow by 32% over the next five years.
North America remained the top region for international sales – which were up a third to £3.6billion. This was followed by Africa where sales almost doubled to £2.3 billion. The survey also found that over the next five years the USA will continue to be a key market alongside Angola, Norway, Nigeria, Brazil, Australia, the UAE and Malaysia.
These results are a clear indication that the global reputation we’ve built up for our oil and gas expertise over the past four decades continues to grow, with our skills still in demand across the world.
And we know that increasing international activity is a key driver for business growth, which is why one of the key priorities in Scotland’s industry-led Oil & Gas Strategy is to support companies in the supply chain to expand into new overseas markets.
OTC presents some really exciting opportunities for our companies – it’s a place where new contacts are forged, existing ones strengthened and new business is done. It’s also a key opportunity to showcase Scotland’s strengths in this key sector to the wider global marketplace. There is also a series of Globalscot meetings and events, including one to ones where our companies will have the opportunity to get advice and assistance from our American based Globalscots as well as our Globalscot networking event which is one of the highlights of a busy week!
We’re delighted that so many companies have been able to come to Houston this year – and we look forward to continuing to work with as we work to drive forward Scotland’s success in oil and gas even further.
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