Scotland Targets International Growth in Oil and Gas
EDINBURGH, Scotland, June 12, 2012 /CNW/ - Scotland has released a new oil and gas industry strategy (http://bit.ly/LT0HR9) targeting higher long-term recovery rates, greater exports and $47 billion annual sales by 2020.
The strategy, developed and delivered by industry, Scottish Government and public sector partners, aims to build on four decades of the industry's success to secure future growth in Scotland and abroad through a number of priority areas for action.
The announcement comes on the heels of a recent survey published by Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) of international activity in this sector, which demonstrated that Scotland's oil and gas supply chain exports rose by 4.5 percent in 2010-11.
With North America at the top of Scotland's supply chain exports, international sales for 2011 reached $12.3 billion, accounting for a record 46.4 percent of total Scottish supply chain sales. This aggressive strategy seeks to further increase Scotland's growth in international sales by 60 percent to $28 billion by 2020.
Oil and gas remains the largest industry sector in the UK, contributing almost one-fifth of all corporate taxes and supporting 440,000 jobs – nearly half of them in Scotland – with more than 40 billion barrels of oil equivalent recovered from the North Sea, delivering $468 billion in revenues to the UK Government.
Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond said: "Oil and gas is one of Scotland's greatest industrial success stories, having transformed the economic well-being of the UK over the last 40 years. With as much as $2.3 trillion of oil remaining to be extracted from reserves around these islands, the strategy identifies key actions which can maximize future opportunities, by helping the industry secure the necessary human capital and skills, a supporting innovation and technology deployment."
The First Minister also announced that Scottish Enterprise will make up to $16 million available to support innovation in the sector over three years, while Scottish Development International (SDI) is to boost activities in key emerging markets like Brazil, Norway and west Africa, building on the recent establishment of an SDI base in Calgary, Canada.
Organized by SDI, a delegation of Scottish oil and gas companies will be exhibiting at the Global Petroleum Show on June 12-14 in Calgary to continue to promote Scotland as a key location for trade and investment, and to expand potentially upon Scotland's rapidly expanding presence in Calgary where already 14 Scottish companies have operations.
Danny Cusick, President, Americas, of SDI, said: "Scotland plays a leading role in the technological growth of international oil and gas markets and is vital to the future economic success of the industry. Now, the challenge is to grow Scotland's role at an accelerated pace by supporting more companies entering the North America and other international markets. The strategy clearly sets out what we need to do to achieve this and further build on the world-renowned success which Scotland has demonstrated in the industry."
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