Police have warned the slump in the oil industry could lead to gangsters muscling in on hard-hit Scottish firms. Oil and gas companies have been laying off thousands of workers in the North Sea industry and looking for new deals on contracts.
Scottish firms are hailing another successful trip to the world's largest oil and gas show in Houston in the US.
A pair of north-east energy service businesses have taken a share of £5million of funding to spur on growth plans.
Preparations for the largest oil and gas show in the world are well under way, with Scottish firms showing a high level of interest in joining an annual trip to the Offshore Technology Aberdeen-based Munro's Travel Group and the Press and Journal are organising their regular visit to the show which opens its doors in the US city of Houston at the end of April. Munro's arranges flights and accommodation for hundreds of delegates to the show every year.
The FTSE 100 Index fell 8.9 points to 5,892.2 today as Friday's optimism, fuelled by positive jobs data in the US, faded amid fresh worries over Greece's ability to secure a new £107billion bailout deal.
THE president of Houston-based private-equity firm SCF Partners is in Aberdeen this week to mark its achievements since entering the local market in 2007.
The renewable-energy industry offers "massive" opportunities for Scotland and China to collaborate, according to First Minister Alex Salmond.