AN offshore trade union has said governments must become properly involved in the future of the oil and gas industry.

The call came after The National yesterday reported that industry body Oil and Gas UK suggested a “gradual but steady” rise in decommissioning over the next decade.

Now Unite’s Scottish secretary has said if workers here were to be employed in decommissioning, the industry and government should invest and create business models that can compete.

Pat Rafferty said: “That too often hasn’t been the case up until now – and Scotland is already missing out as a result, with work going to Norway, Turkey and Bangladesh.

“But this report confirms what our members have been telling us – there is no rush to decommissioning. We need to remember that oil and gas recovery is far from over, with recent estimates that there’s the equivalent of up to 3 billion barrels still out there in unexplored pools.

“We again call on the Scottish and UK governments to use their borrowing powers to take out public stakes in new offshore infrastructure. That would encourage companies to also invest, would support jobs, and would create returns for the public purse as the oil and gas begins to flow.”

Lang Banks, director of environmental group WWF Scotland, said Scotland could secure a large part of the employment and economic opportunities from cleaning up after the North Sea oil and gas industry, but it needed support from politicians.

“In the interests of tackling climate change, we need to see a sensible transition away from fossil fuels, harnessing the skills of those currently employed in the sector in clean energy technologies as well as decommissioning,” he said.

“If done right it could herald the start of a whole new chapter in the economy of the North Sea.”

Paul Wheelhouse, Holyrood’s business, innovation and energy minister, said Scottish suppliers were already established in areas of decommissioning, such as well plugging and abandonment activity.

He said: “I will be in the North East later this month to focus on the opportunities of decommissioning and to follow up on the commitments the First Minister set out in our Programme for Government.

“Work is well under way with Scottish Enterprise to develop a decommissioning action plan by the end of the year and we are also working closely with Scottish ports and harbours to understand their capabilities and identify how we can help them to take advantage of the opportunities arising from the energy sector.

“Decommissioning is just one of the opportunities along with opportunities arising to the sector’s expertise and capabilities in innovation to ever more efficiently recover the substantial oil and gas resources remaining in the North Sea, and to harness transferable skills to develop offshore renewables – all of which have the potential to deliver enormous economic benefits for the whole country.”

Source: www.thenational.scot