New Economy Secretary Keith Brown is to travel to Aberdeen to meet leading figures from the oil and gas sector in the next few days as the sector continues to struggle in a “challenging economic environment”.
Mr Brown said helping the north-east, where the sector is based, remains a “priority” for the Scottish Government.
Both he and business, innovation and energy minister Paul Wheelhouse will travel to Aberdeen later this week for the talks.
It comes less than a week after oil giant Shell announced it is axing 475 jobs in north-east Scotland.
Mr Brown announced the move as MSPs at the Scottish Parliament debated the economy for the first time since the Holyrood election.
He stressed Scotland’s economy “has been resilient over the past 12 months in the face of the most challenging external conditions in recent years”.
Mr Brown added: “Weak global growth, low oil prices and a high exchange rate have combined to present a challenging economic environment, and in particular for our oil and gas industry and its supply chain.
“These are global trends affecting countries around the world and, of course, Scotland is not immune to them.
“The impact of the pressures has been felt most acutely in the production sector, particularly in the north-east of Scotland, where the oil and gas sector has had to respond by restructuring and with redundancies.
“The north-east remains a priority for this government and that’s why I and Paul Wheelhouse with both go Aberdeen this week to meet representatives from the oil and gas sector.”
Mr Brown said the economy will “continue to face global headwinds”, stressing he recognised the challenges the country is facing.
The Scottish Government will “maintain a clear and unrelenting focus on creating a competitive and supportive business environment in order to achieve our ambitions”, he added.
Tory Murdo Fraser recalled how business leaders at the Scottish Chambers of Commerce had warned “economically we are absolutely on a knife edge” and may face another recession.
The Conservative continued: “The outlook on GDP growth is concerning, GDP is behind the rest of the UK, having previously been higher.
“Unemployment in Scotland is substantially higher than the rest of the UK and the gap is widening. retail sales are declining and business confidence is low.
“There is no point pretending there are not issues that need to be addressed.”
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