Hansard

I begin by agreeing with the broad tenor of the minister’s remarks and thanking Rhoda Grant for her observations on decommissioning, in particular. I agree with her central observations on safety.

In the regular discussions that the minister has with the industry—I am thinking of Dana Petroleum, in particular—perhaps he could have a wee word about geography. He cannot have been the only person who spotted its curious decision to give the Barra and Harris fields, which are 100 miles east of Unst, the names that it did. There are plenty of seabirds that fields have yet to be named after. During one of his many busy days, perhaps the minister could impress on the industry the need—not least for the benefit of his poor colleagues who represent the Western Isles—to get its geography a little more accurate.

I want to make three main points in support of my amendment. First, the offshore installations in the North Sea have now been with us for the best part of three to four decades. Every industry contact whom I meet—including the process engineer from the Forties field whom I met on the train from Aberdeen this morning—says that the most significant requirement is the constant need for re-engineering, reinvestment and the giving of attention to the fabric of oil rigs, gas platforms and every piece of kit out there. That is hardly surprising, given what has gone and what will go in the future.

Huge investment is needed, but it makes sense because, as the minister hinted, some of the major unplanned maintenance shutdowns during 2011, when production of gas and oil fell considerably—by 21 and 17 per cent respectively—were caused by the fabric challenges that the industry faces. It is in the interests of Government strategy here and in London, which is about enhancing recovery and maintaining the degree of progress that the minister talked about, for such unplanned shutdowns and unplanned maintenance to be limited to a large extent. That strongly supports the point that Rhoda Grant rightly made about safety. I meet plenty of safety reps at home and across Scotland who advocate the case for investment.

The need for such investment represents an enormously positive opportunity for the supply chain, not just in the north-east of Scotland but across Scotland and the rest of the UK. Given the state of the whole economy at the moment, the oil and gas sector is one of the highest growth areas. We should recognise that and support and encourage it. The issue comes down to jobs, businesses and success. We should strongly support investment in the fabric of the industry.

There is also a need for onshore fabric maintenance. Sullum Voe oil terminal was opened in 1978. At the tail end of last year, BP announced a £300 million reinvestment in the terminal, which Arthur Spence—the Shetlander who is in charge of the terminal—said to me on the phone this morning would secure the terminal into the 2040s. That means that it has the same potential lifetime as the one that the minister rightly identified for the entire industry. That is a very important commitment by BP, by the partners to the terminal, and indeed in the UK continental shelf overall.

The islands that I have pleasure in representing in Parliament have taken oil as part of our life for a long time. All my life, oil has been very much part of things. We deal with the risks as well—I could hardly fail to mention that on the 20th anniversary of the Braer. We also take the risks from west of Shetland. I recognise that for some, particularly in the environmental movement, there are huge challenges and they are right. I have been on an exploration drilling rig west of Shetland. The environmental and weather issues that will be confronted out there should not be underestimated. Rhoda Grant rightly mentioned helicopters and it is said that as regards helicopter transfers to Schiehallion and Foinaven the delays are far more than, for example, to an oil rig east of Aberdeen for all the obvious reasons.

In that context, I am disappointed that Chevron’s Rosebank gas pipeline option is to bypass Sullom Voe, but we hope to gain business from crude oil shuttle tankers at Sullom Voe. I am sure that the minister takes his role seriously in the context of the overall assessment, analysis and approval of oil and gas recovery plans and that when strategic decisions are taken about where pipelines are based they are taken on the basis of the best long-term interests of the entire industry.

On field extraction, I agree with the argument already made by members, not least because who would have envisaged a decade ago that horizontal drilling was possible. Now, we can be taken into control rooms and shown 3D maps of how it is done. Technology moves on and I cannot guess where it will go in the next 10 years but it will go further and further.

I thank the minister for his work in relation to decommissioning at Lerwick. It is not just about Lerwick, as Rhoda Grant rightly suggested. It is about every port in Scotland. There is so much work out there over the next 20 to 30 years that it will not just be one port—in that case, happily, in Shetland—that benefits, but many ports across Scotland.

Although decommissioning is moving back because of crude oil prices of $100 a barrel, there is no question but that it will be an important Scottish business in the future as well.

I move amendment S4M-05310.1, to insert at end:

“; notes the need for constant investment in North Sea oil and gas assets for personnel safety; further notes 43 offshore field transfer deals during 2012 between private and state-owned companies; appreciates the necessity of long-term certainty around the £30 billion decommissioning of oil and gas platforms, and recognises the decline in North Sea production from its peak of 137,099,000 tonnes in 1999 to 51,972,000 tonnes in 2011.”

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