Meeting of the Parliament 20 January 2016
I welcome this debate as an opportunity to highlight the energy sector’s importance to Scotland. It is important that we realise that Scotland has an abundance of energy resources including oil, gas, wind, hydro, wave and tidal, and that that affords us the opportunity to develop a rich and diverse energy mix that is both resilient and secure. The twin Scottish Government objectives of developing a low-carbon economy and ensuring good stewardship of our oil and gas resources are extremely important to our nation’s economic wellbeing.
The oil and gas industry in Scotland has achieved great things in its first half century, and we need to recognise the enormous asset that the industry has been to Scotland and the huge contribution of its workers. However, it is no exaggeration to say that in January 2016 the industry faces the most severe challenges, and what is required from us all in this place, and everyone in any position of power or responsibility, is to respond positively and do everything of practical benefit that we can to help the industry through these difficult times. That applies to the Scottish Government, every MSP, the UK Government, local government, banks, industry, the workforce and trade unions—in other words, to us all.
Just last week, Sir Ian Wood said that we must not panic. There are a huge number of successes that we can point to. Production is, in fact, rising. Projects, contracts and developments are being progressed well—we read of them each day in the Press and Journal and publications such as Scottish Energy News. Many new or newly refurbished fields are coming into production, including BP’s Clair field and its Quad204 and eastern trough area projects; Statoil’s Mariner field; Maersk’s Culzean field; EnQuest’s Kraken field; and many more besides. Merchants of doom peddle false wares.
Equally, we have a unique opportunity in Scotland, where the expertise gained from half a century of exploitation of oil and gas in the waters around our country gives us a particular advantage in the development of renewables technology. Countries such as Norway, Sweden and Denmark show that there is no contradiction between making use of—as in the case of Denmark—substantial gas reserves while leading the transition to a low-carbon economy.
The energy expertise from oil and gas can often help in renewables, as is evidenced by many companies working in Scotland that are involved in both sectors. I believe that a good example is Statoil, which is developing not only the new Mariner field but the world’s largest floating offshore wind development. That is, in my view, very exciting, and it has been enabled by decisions taken by the Scottish Government.
I have just returned from a two-day visit to Caithness, where I visited Scrabster harbour. I heard how its new facilities, which were part funded by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, have served the oil industry with half a million tonnes of goods over the year, as well as serving the renewables industry. Scrabster is well placed to serve west-of-Shetland fields such as the Clair field, the Total fields of Laggan and Tormore, and Premier Oil’s new Solan field, which will come on stream shortly, but it also plays a part in the renewables industry, because it is just along the coast from the MeyGen project, which is going to be the world’s largest commercial tidal array.
I also visited JGC Engineering and Technical Services, which is in Janetstown, just up the road from Scrabster. It is a quality growing engineering company whose work spans oil and gas and renewables. The company has just produced a large number of 200-tonne ballast blocks for the MeyGen project, whose onshore facility I visited on Monday.
The point that I am making is a very simple one: many companies, many ports and harbours and many people are engaged in work in which oil and gas and renewables go hand in hand. Expertise in one area lends itself to gaining success in the other.