Scottish Minister Calls on UK to Sustain Long Term Investment in North Sea

Scotland's energy minister said Tuesday that the recent report by the British industry body Oil and Gas UK showed the need of long term investments in the continental shelf exploration.

EDINBURGH, December 9 (Sputnik), Mark Hirst – The recent report by the British industry body Oil and Gas UK emphasized the need of long term investments in the continental shelf exploration, Scotland's energy minister told Sputnik Tuesday.

The report "Fuelling the next generation: A study of the UK upstream oil and gas workforce", published on Tuesday by the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in partnership with Oil and Gas UK warned that oil and gas dependent jobs, currently representing 1 in 80 of all UK posts, would fall from a current level of 375,000 to 340,000 by 2019.

"This report highlights the need for the UK Government to continue to put in place measures to sustain long term investment in the UK continental shelf and for industry to work with our colleges and universities to ensure they are delivering the skilled workforce, they need and deliver the best value out of the public investment that we provide for the training of the current and future workforce," Scottish Government's Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said in a statement issued to Sputnik.

However, the study also found that technological developments in the way oil and gas, exploited from the North Sea, would result in a demand for 12,000 new posts across the UK sector.

"As a sector that has a significant presence in Scotland I am pleased that industry and stakeholders are working together to ensure that any skills issue within the industry does not impact future growth," Ewing added.

In November, Oil and Gas UK announced the launch of two projects, aimed at stimulating exploration on the UK Continental Shelf.