Energy Voice’s broadcast of Sir Ian Wood’s view on the Scottish independence set a new record for viewing on this site. That’s hardly surprising given his standing in the UK and wider international oil and gas industry.
You don’t have to agree with his perspective, but he cannot be faulted for his objectivity. Few in the UK offshore industry have accumulated as much experience as Sir Ian or are as able in terms of articulating that knowledge.
In fact he has been a player for almost the full life of the UK Continental Shelf and turned in a spectacular performance creating and building the Wood Group, which remains the largest company that was ever seeded in Aberdeen and among the foremost energy supply chain brands ever to come out of the UK.
Today, Sir Ian is an independent voice and, as everyone in the UK industry must by now know, he was tasked by the current government to review the UKCS and report back.
The Wood Review, as it has come to be known, is a masterly piece of work, and one of the great things about it is that many of the recommendations it makes with regard to taking the UKCS forward are not new.
Anyone who lived through the CRINE, CRINE Network, Oil & Gas Industry Taskforce and stable of sub-initiatives steered by industry leadership group PILOT will surely recognise that. There were some successes, but many failures too.
The difference this time is that the UK industry has no choice but to get its act together … government too … and pursue the remaining resource base, whatever that may turn out to be.
But, listening to Sir Ian’s discussion with Rita Brown on this website, it is surely clear that the industry is being used as a political football and he is rightly fed-up with that, especially the all too often skewed misrepresentation of the facts by politicians.
However, that was inevitable as it has always been at the mercy of the political machine. And that includes misquoting UKCS reserves estimates and totally failing to understand how such figures were arrived at.
Wood is shrewd. He makes a point of keeping himself informed. He is up to speed with shale too and has some measure of renewables. His understanding is among the best you will ever find, of that I’m convinced.
He is a Scot, a Brit and an international citizen, all rolled into one. He is or certainly was an incessant traveller, complete with tea-making kit and navy blue sweater draped over his shoulders.
He has huge knowledge of the UK’s global network through its embassies and consulates and has doubtless made considerable use of this over time.
In particular, Sir Ian is better equipped than most of us to assess the independence debate, especially from a business perspective. And his knowledge of the workings of the upstream oil and gas industry is staggering.
He has had the courage to speak out in a quiet, measured way, covering a lot of ground in 30 minutes. Go watch, listen and learn. You don’t have to agree.
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