Following David Cameron’s visit to Aberdeen there have been a number of announcements from both the UK and Scottish Governments for the Oil and Gas industry and for the Aberdeen region in the past week. It is probably worth getting a summary of this into the Magazine if possible.  Let me know what you think – happy to remove some items that relate to road and rail.

City Region Deal
Up to £250m investment, half from the UK Government and half from the Scottish Government, to be made over the next 5-10 years.

• a new oil and gas technology centre, supporting the industry to exploit remaining North Sea reserves
• funding towards the expansion of Aberdeen harbour to enable the city to compete for decommissioning work
• support to help the region diversify into the biopharmaceutical and agri-food industries
• improvements to digital connectivity

Additional UK Government commitments

• Ministerial group chaired by Rudd which will publish work plan in the spring but skills and infrastructure have been referenced as potential focus
  £20m of new funding for a second round of new seismic surveys
• The appointment of an oil and gas ambassador focussed on exports and investment
• £1.5m for Innovate UK’s ‘Energy Game Changer’ which will help micro businesses and SMEs from outside the energy sector develop disruptive technologies for use by the energy industry
• £700k for Heriot Watt University’s Lyell Centre for 3D visualisation facilities
• £1m investment in the Oil and Gas Centre for doctoral training at Heriot Watt University
• The OGA will publish a decommissioning strategy by early summer
• The MER UK strategy has been laid before parliament (28 Jan)

Additional Scottish Government investment

• £12 million Transition Training Fund to provide retraining to those losing their jobs in the oil and gas industry so that they can gain employment in the wider energy industry or manufacturing
• £12.5 million for Scottish Enterprise comprising £10 million for them to help firms kick-start innovation projects and £2.5 million for senior industry experts to conduct business resilience reviews.
• An initial £200 million additional funding to help improve journey times and increase capacity on key rail links between Aberdeen and the Central Belt
• £24 million of funding for the trunk roads programme to support improvements to the key A90/A937 south junction at Laurencekirk
• £10 million for extension of digital infrastructure in the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire area above and beyond the commitment through the City Deal
• £20 million in infrastructure funding to unlock housing sites that are of strategic importance to the local authorities

Private sector investment

• £20m for the redevelopment of Aberdeen International Airport