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The Future Of Aberdeen As An Energy City: Part 2

Aberdeen City, Articles, Featured 3 Responses »

Feb 252016

Part Two: On Life Support. By Mike Shepherd

With oil at about $33 a barrel the Aberdeen economy is suffering. The anecdotes abound: For example, the taxi driver who tells you that his takings are down by 50% and that his last fare on a business visit to the city had been the sole occupant of the hotel.

Aberdeen has become largely dependent on oil over the years. There had been other industries in the city, fishing, shipbuilding, papermaking, textiles and tourism amongst others, but they all declined or disappeared.

Here’s an anecdote that illustrates this only too well. When I attended my children’s prize-giving ceremony at Harlaw Academy in 1998, the invited speaker was the manager of the John Lewis store in the city centre.

The theme of his talk was local job prospects, particularly oil. He mentioned in passing that the store’s annual profits closely tracked the oil price, year in, year out. By 1998, the industry had come to dominate the Aberdeen economy.

The Aberdeen economy now lacks any significant diversity, something all too apparent now that the oil price has crashed. Recent discussions have focussed on expanding the local economy by encouraging the development of biopharmaceuticals and agrifood industries.

A similar weakness has been identified in Norway with its dependence on oil. The BBC recently reported that the Norwegians are seeking to diversify with potential growth in aluminium, healthcare, farming and fisheries (it was noted that the shop price of a 4.5kg salmon shops is currently worth more than a barrel of oil).

Nevertheless, Aberdeen will probably tough things out until the oil industry revives. Let’s put a caveat on that – should the current slump last not much longer than one to two years.

The key feature to emphasize is that oil is of enormous strategic importance to the national economy, both in the UK and Scotland, and more than just its massive tax-raising boost. Whereas, the country’s power generation may be satisfied by Chinese nuclear energy, even renewables, oil is needed for transport and is irreplaceable for the purpose until alternatives such as hydrogen fuel cells and electrification of the transport grid comes to the fore (the green initiative is to be applauded but it hasn’t happened big time yet).

The need to import oil can cripple a weak economy as was all too apparent in 1973 when the oil price quadrupled at a time when the UK economy was in trouble. The lessons of the 70s hopefully have not been lost on government officials. The UK economy is not exactly rosy today either, and it would be wise not to have to import all the country’s fuel at a high oil price once the upturn comes.

A significant rise in the oil price could easily happen in the medium term. Oil price crashes result in a drastic cut in oil company investment, typically on projects which have a lead time of several years. When energy demand increases, an adequate supply is not then available and the price can rocket.

there is a large and very experienced oil and gas skill pool in the city

Thus the UK government is aware of the need to support the North Sea oil industry by cutting its taxes on oil production and is likely to continue doing so in the short to medium term. In the long term, the large tax revenues will eventually return.

Another factor concentrates the UK government’s collective mind here, the vast cost of abandoning North Sea oil and gas infrastructure.

Oil companies are required by international agreement to remove most of the offshore infrastructure; mainly oil platforms and pipelines. The government will be responsible for funding part of the costs, an estimated £16 billion out of £55 million in total by 2050.

Given current government spending constraints, they will want to postpone the expenditure for as long as possible. Unlike say coal or steel, leaving the oil industry to die bites the government where it hurts.

It is vital to keep some sort of oil industry present in the Aberdeen area to form the basis for reviving the industry in the future. A vast infrastructure of platforms, pipelines and terminals are already in place. If this goes, the industry goes and is unlikely to come back. Certain key fields act as hubs with their pipeline links for transporting oil onshore. These matter to the future of exploration of new oil in the North Sea.

New oil finds are typically small and would probably not be economic without an existing infrastructure in place. The longer the infrastructure is kept in place, the higher the oil recovery will be from the North Sea. Another key feature of the Aberdeen area is that there is a large and very experienced oil and gas skill pool in the city. They should be encouraged to stay here for as long as possible or else they will drift off and find alternative careers.

A city deal was announced for Aberdeen at the end of January this year. It’s an investment package of £250 million jointly provided by the UK and Scottish governments. The money will be used to expand Aberdeen harbour by building an extension at the Bay of Nigg, to improve digital connectivity, and to fund an energy innovation centre. The intent of the centre is to work with small and medium-sized businesses to develop new technology in the oil and gas sector.

There is also a proposal on the table to build a new energy centre at Aberdeen University. The benefit of such a centre is tangible. The recovery of oil from the North Sea is top in class, many new technologies have been developed here and the rest of the industry sees the North Sea efforts as an exemplar to copy. If and when the upturn happens, the industry will require a large number of trained engineers and geoscientists to cope with projects that have become economic again.

In parallel, the Scottish government announced that it would provide funding to improve the rail links on the east coast. A major issue is the journey times north of Dundee where a single-track stretch of railway at Montrose causes a bottleneck. There have been plans to remove this problem for years although it is yet to come to fruition. The work should now start in five to ten years time. It is to be hoped that the Scottish government will finally honour this pledge.

A major issue for the future of Aberdeen is its poor transport links with the rest of the UK given its relatively remote location. Unless these are improved substantially, Aberdeen’s prospects for an economic future after oil are somewhat limited.

The North Sea oil industry is therefore on life support and the patient is critical but not necessarily croaking. Aberdeen should survive as an energy city going forward providing the downturn in the oil price doesn’t persist too long and the tax breaks come.

Next week, we start to look at the long term future beyond oil; starting with what I call the scrapheap challenge: the decommissioning of North Sea oil infrastructure.

Mike Shepherd is author of Oil Strike North Sea, a history of North Sea oil. Join him in two upcoming sessions to discuss the impact of the oil industry on our shores:

March 9^th 6.30 – 8pm – Aberdeen Central Library. Free, but booking essential. Contact the library on 01224 – 652500 or email Libraryevents@aberdeencity.gov.uk
March 17^th 5-6pm – Blackwell’s Book Shop, High Street, Old Aberdeen. 5-6pm. Free, but please reserve a place by phoning 01224 486102 or emailing erin.matheson@blackwell.co.uk.

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The Future Of Aberdeen As An Energy City: Part 1

Aberdeen City, Articles, Featured 3 Responses »

Feb 192016

Part One: The global oil price crash. By Mike Shepherd

The oil price has crashed and many are losing their jobs in Aberdeen. As I write, a barrel of Brent crude can be bought for $33, much cheaper than only two years ago when the oil price was over
$100.
At $33 it is difficult to make a profit out of North Sea fields, the costs are too high.

Almost 40 per cent of North Sea fields now make no money and the rest are not giving anything like the financial returns that were seen two years ago.

Expenditure is being cut to a minimum and there is little new exploration going on. The result has been a loss of almost 10,000 jobs from the North Sea oil and gas sector.

With numbers like these, the future looks gloomy for both North Sea oil and Aberdeen. In a series of articles for Aberdeen Voice, I intend to set out the background to the current situation and to speculate as to what might be the future for North Sea oil and Aberdeen in particular.

This first article explains why the oil price has crashed. Oil is a cyclical commodity prone to booms and busts. It hadn’t always been like this. From the end of the Second World War to 1973, the oil price had been kept at a low and stable level, about $2-3 barrel (and equivalent to $20-25 at today’s prices). A small number of oil companies controlled global production and it was this that ensured both oil price stability and steady profits for the companies involved.

A Middle East war in 1973 changed everything. This was when OPEC, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, came to assert themselves. The result was an immediate oil-price hike and a greater degree of price instability as control over production became much more widely dispersed. OPEC would find it difficult to maintain discipline amongst its member countries.

Previous oil price crashes occurred in 1986 and later in 1999. The 1986 crash was brutal in Aberdeen, for example it saw unemployment hit a peak of 81% in the Bridge of Don area. The causes of the recent crashes have been similar – increased production by a small number of oil exporting countries and reluctance by OPEC, Saudi Arabia in particular, to maintain the oil price by cutting production. There has been a will by the Saudis to maintain OPEC market share despite the resulting loss in revenue.

The current oil price crash has been provoked to a greater extent by the success of oil shale production in the United States (fracking) and a reduced need to import oil from outside the country. The United States is a major consumer of the world’s oil.

I often get asked, ‘how long will the oil price stay this low?’ To which the answer is, ‘I don’t know.’ It’s too complex an issue to call. On the one hand, the world population is increasing at a rate of 230,000 extra humans a day. Not only that, the world is becoming more middle class, less so in the west, more so in China and India, where a sizable population are aspiring to a western lifestyle involving big cars and overseas travel. This creates long-term pressure on the demand for oil, and oil is essentially a finite resource.

On the debit side, we will see more oil production from Libya and Iran, while China’s economy is stumbling with potential knock-on effects for the global economy. The Chinese themselves are now becoming acutely aware of the health problems being caused by severe pollution in their big cities. In response, they are restricting car use and taking an interest in fuel efficiencies.

Add into the mix, the recent Paris agreement on climate change – a commitment to limit a global increase in temperature to well below 2^oC by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, principally from the use of hydrocarbons. Global warming is a major challenge for humans, and in combination with massive human population increase, an environmental disaster is looming if nothing is done. Yet, here’s a major flaw in the good intentions set out in Paris last December.

What do you do about transport? The world currently needs oil to move people and goods around. Over half the world’s population now live in urban areas and they depend on their transport networks for food and basic commodities: They would starve otherwise.

The alternative is to electrify the transport networks in cities and to promote hydrogen fuel cells. This will be vastly expensive at a time when world-wide public debt is nearing unsustainable levels and in any case, it will take years to implement. Meanwhile, we will have to depend on oil until a concerted political effort solves this particular problem.

So how long will the oil price stay low? It could be as much as fifteen years as was the case with the 1986 crash (which sort of melded with the 1999 crash). Nobody in Aberdeen wants to hear that, but it’s possible. I suspect the time frame could be much shorter – the long-term pressures on oil demand will not go away and the oil price could feasibly start climbing again within the next year or two.

This is a common belief in the industry. Nevertheless, the reality of the situation is that nobody really knows. And if you did, you would make a fortune.

In the next article, I will focus on the impact of low oil prices on the Aberdeen area in more detail and will speculate on the short – term implications for North Sea oil.

Mike Shepherd is author of Oil Strike North Sea, a history of North Sea oil. Join him in two upcoming sessions to discuss the impact of the oil industry on our shores:

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School Pupils To Compete In Energy Industry Quiz

Aberdeen City, Articles 1 Response »

Nov 122015

Tim Martin of Ramboll Oil & Gas, meets pupils involved in Northsound Schools Energy Challenge.

With thanks to Eoin Smith, Senior Account Executive, Tricker PR.

Pupils from four secondary schools in the north east of Scotland attended the Aberdeen office of global engineering consultancy Ramboll Oil & Gas to take part in a quiz designed to test their knowledge of the energy industry.

Teams from Dyce, Fraserburgh, Inverurie and Hazlehead Academies took part in the quarter finals of the Northsound Energy Schools Challenge, a hotly-contested annual competition for school pupils in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.

But those wishing to learn the results of the hard-fought contest will need to tune in to local radio station Northsound One on Sunday, November 29 at 3.30pm.

Ramboll Oil & Gas has sponsored the popular energy industry quiz, run annually by Northsound One, in an effort to encourage young people to consider the energy industry as a career option. This comes after an announcement earlier this year that, despite the challenging economic climate, Ramboll Oil & Gas UK will expand its Aberdeen workforce by up to one third after securing £1.3m worth of new work since the start of the year.

Tim Martin, managing director of Ramboll Oil & Gas UK, says,

“At a time when other firms may not be looking to hire, we are in the very fortunate position to be looking towards expansion. There are still a great many opportunities for those wishing to enter the industry.

“The energy industry offers very rewarding career prospects, and we are delighted to be involved in a competition that fosters an interest in the industry amongst school pupils. Those competing in the Northsound Energy Schools Challenge are the future of the energy industry, and everything should be done to encourage their passion and enthusiasm.

“We were incredibly impressed by the knowledge and professionalism of all of the teams, and regardless of who is the overall winner of the competition I am confident that these pupils have long and successful careers in the energy industry ahead of them.”

The Northsound Energy Schools Challenge is broadcast on Northsound One every Sunday afternoon at 3.30pm.

Ramboll Oil & Gas is a business unit within the Ramboll Group. With more than four decades of experience, the company is a well-established, independent and highly regarded provider of offshore and onshore engineering consultancy services for the oil and gas industry. Today, Ramboll Oil & Gas has offices in the USA, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, India, Denmark, Norway and UK, and employs around 900 specialists.

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Mental Health Aberdeen Gets Fundraising Boost

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Oct 222015

With thanks to Jessica Murphy, Senior Account Executive, Citrus Mix.

A ceilidh held in aid of Mental Health Aberdeen (MHA) has brought in thousands of pounds to help the charity.
Employees at oil and gas consultancy ADIL danced their way to raising £3,000 for MHA – their chosen charity of the year.

Staff at ADIL have not just been donning their dancing shoes to support the charity – earlier this year they also pulled up their sleeves, gave up their spare time and helped MHA paint its offices.

The company’s continued support has so far brought in more than £6,400.

Astrid Whyte, chief executive of MHA, said:

“The support we receive from companies in Aberdeen is so important and makes such a difference to us. Staff at ADIL have raised a fantastic amount for us already throughout the year and we would like to thank them for their generous efforts so far.

“We are particularly appreciative of gestures like this in the current economic climate. Demand for our services continues to grow throughout the north-east and support like this is invaluable to us as we work hard to meet requirements. Holding events also helps us to build up our profile and make people aware of what we do, as well as letting them know we are here to help.

“We work throughout Aberdeen and the north-east and there is a strong need for the services we offer, which range from our Companions Befriending Service to youth counselling sessions. We want to continue providing and improving these services in local communities in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, and kind gestures like this make all the difference to us in achieving that.”

Peter Brawley, operations and improvements manager at ADIL, said:

“MHA is a fantastic charity and it is great to know that the money we have raised will be going towards such a good cause.

“Despite the situation that the oil industry is currently in, we believe that it is still crucial to provide support to our community and we will do whatever we can to do so.”

Founded in 1950, MHA offers a range of resources which include emotional and practical support, information and advice, support with helping overcoming social isolation, links and access to other community resources as well as activities promoting mental wellbeing. Based in Aberdeen, the charity has centres throughout the north-east in towns including Aboyne, Banff, Ellon, Peterhead and Inverurie.

The organisation was among the first to provide community care – with its first residential project, a group home for discharged psychiatric patients, opened more than 35 years ago. MHA has also been providing day services continuously for over 60 years.

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Prime Minister Dodges Serious Questions On Young’s

Aberdeenshire, Opinion No Responses »

Sep 182015

With thanks to Kenneth Hutchison, Parliamentary Assistant to Dr. Eilidh Whiteford MP

Prime Minister David Cameron needs to give a serious answer about the UK Government’s involvement in proposals to use state aid to entice jobs from Fraserburgh to Grimsby, following a parliamentary intervention from Banff and Buchan MP, Eilidh Whiteford.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Dr Whiteford (pictured) asked the Prime Minister directly what action the UK Government was doing to keep jobs in Fraserburgh. The Prime Minister, in response, gave a much vaguer political answer about keeping inflation and taxes low – failing to address the UK Government’s involvement in Grimsby’s bid as a base for centralisation of Young’s operations.

It was reported earlier this month that North Lincolnshire Council, in conjunction with the UK Government, will deploy a £1.34 million funding package to persuade the company to move jobs from Scotland to Grimsby.

It is understood that the money comes from unused cash in the area’s Regional Growth Fund.

However, Scottish politicians have cast doubt on the funding package, highlighting European Union State Aid rules which place strict limits on the direct financial support governments can offer to companies. Since the UK Government and North Lincolnshire’s offer, the Scottish Government has stated that it will match the funding package – provided it can be demonstrated that such a move would be within the law.

Last month, Dr Whiteford and local MSP Stewart Stevenson wrote to the UK Business Secretary, Sajid Javid, asking for more information about the UK Government’s legal basis for making the offer.

Speaking afterwards, Dr Whiteford said:

“I asked the Prime Minister a straightforward question, and he tried to dodge it. It won’t rub with my constituents, who stand at risk of losing their jobs because the UK Government plans to directly subsidise Grimsby’s rival bid.

“The Prime Minister made no effort whatsoever to address the fact that his Government is in the process of breaching state aid rules, with the specific goal of consolidating jobs in Grimsby – to Fraserburgh’s direct detriment.

“The Scottish Government will aim to match this assistance – if it emerges that it is legal to do so. However, it is disappointing to note that the Prime Minister cannot defend his own Government’s role in damaging the local economy.

“I will continue to ask difficult questions at Westminster, and my colleagues in the Scottish Government will continue to ensure that Fraserburgh remains an attractive place for Young’s to continue doing business.”

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[Aberdeen Voice accepts and welcomes contributions from all sides/angles pertaining to any issue. Views and opinions expressed in any article are entirely those of the writer/contributor, and inclusion in our publication does not constitute support or endorsement of these by Aberdeen Voice as an organisation or any of its team members.]

Drilling Contractors Support Mental Health Aberdeen

Aberdeen City, Information No Responses »

Jul 302015

With thanks to Jessica Murphy, Senior Account Executive, Citrus Mix.

A leading north-east charity has been given a surprise funding boost by the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC).

The North Sea Chapter of the organisation has donated £6,100 to Mental Health Aberdeen (MHA), after members supported the charity at their annual safety awards.

Attendees were asked to make personal donations to IADC’s two selected charities, MHA and Alzheimer Scotland.

The money raised was matched by the chapter, bringing the total amount to £12,200. This enabled the two charities to receive a donation of £6,100 each to help support their work.

Astrid Whyte, chief executive of MHA, said:

“This donation was a wonderful surprise and we were delighted to meet Derek Hart of the IADC to receive the cheque. Fundraising efforts like this are a fantastic help as we try to make a real difference to the lives of children, young people and families within our communities.

“Demand for our services is high throughout the north-east and this gesture will help us as we work hard to meet requirements. We would like to thank everyone at IADC who thought of us and contributed to the collection, it means a lot to us.”

North Sea regional director of the International Association of Drilling Contractors, Derek Hart said:

“We ask members for suggested charities each year as we have envelopes on the tables at our annual awards evening. It is not a fundraiser event as such but we take the opportunity to have a charity collection and always try to support local causes.

“We were pleased to be able to support such a worthwhile charity, and know that it will help enable MHA to maintain the hugely important services it offers across the north-east of Scotland.”

The International Association of Drilling Contractors has represented its members in the worldwide oil and gas drilling industry since 1940. The North Sea Chapter has been in existence for 42 years, and is one of 15 active Chapters worldwide. Over the last ten years, the North Sea Chapter has donated almost £200,000 to local charities.

Ramboll Oil & Gas Aberdeen Wins Major Contract

Aberdeen City, Featured, News No Responses »

May 152015

With thanks to Leanne Carter.

The recently launched Aberdeen office of Ramboll Oil and Gas has continued its strong start to the year by securing a £275,000 contract with a major North Sea operator.

The crude oil booster pump replacement project has been one of the key achievements in an above-anticipated performance in the first quarter of the year.

It is less than a year since the global engineering consultancy launched in Aberdeen, but the company has already won new work with a range of major oil and gas companies operating within the UKCS.

The latest contract win is to deliver a full multi-discipline detailed design and construction engineering project for replacement crude oil pumps on a North Sea platform. The team in Aberdeen will provide 3D cloud scanning services, design and construction engineering.

Managing director Tim Martin says it had been anticipated it would take time for the Ramboll name to become known within Aberdeen, and that the current difficulties facing the energy sector would also impact on its early performance.

He adds:

“This incredibly strong start to the year has been above our expectations and all the indications are that the Aberdeen office of Ramboll Oil and Gas will continue to experience a period of growth as we move into the second quarter.

“We anticipated that the current tough market conditions being experienced in the North Sea and the wider oil industry would negatively impact on our projected growth, but the opposite of that is actually happening and we are making significant breakthroughs.

“The feedback we are receiving is that the Ramboll project management model of offering cost-effective engineering solutions is exactly what is needed at this time.

“Although our clients will work directly with the Aberdeen office, our position of local presence and global knowledge allows us to work with the most talented engineers in a number of international offices to deliver safe, reliable and importantly at this time, cost effective, engineering solutions.”

It is the second major contract win announced by Ramboll Oil and Gas this year, and follows on from the company being awarded the detailed jacket design for Maersk Oil’s Culzean field, located 145 miles east of Aberdeen.

Ramboll Oil & Gas is a business unit within the Ramboll Group. With four decades of experience, the company is a well-established, independent and highly regarded provider of offshore and onshore engineering consultancy services for the oil and gas industry. Today, Ramboll Oil & Gas has offices in the USA, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, India, Denmark, Norway and UK, and employ close to 1,000 specialists.

Sea Shepherd Seal Defence Campaign 2015

Environment, Opinion 3 Responses »

Apr 102015

Sea Shepherd announces the second year of its Seal Defence Campaign around the coastline and islands of Scotland. By Robert Read – Sea Shepherd UK

Sea Shepherd UK (SSUK) have deployed a seal defence crew to Gamrie Bay, Banffshire in the first phase of our 2015 campaign to prevent Scotland’s iconic seals from being killed illegally by coastal netting fishing operations, fish farms or indeed anyone else in Scotland.

This year’s deployment of a seal defence crew and a fast RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) to Gardenstown harbour coincides with the start of the wild salmon netting season as employees of USAN Salmon Fisheries ltd (AKA: Scottish Wild Salmon Company) who operate fixed engine nets either side of Gamrie Bay.

USAN Salmon Fisheries Ltd claimed to have shot a seal before we arrived in 2014 and prevented any further seals being killed at this location for the rest of the 2014.

Sea Shepherd UK’s deployment of a land and boat crew to Gamrie Bay marks only the start of a much larger and wider ranging campaign for 2015 following our success in during 2014.

In 2014 at Gardenstown we were joined early in the campaign by members of the Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) who had a small team initially in the area on surveillance/intelligence gathering and who then sent a much larger team to provide support following increasing intimidation received from netsmen and their ‘allies’.

Wherever Sea Shepherd operates we always try to recruit local volunteers and find supporters and with the recruiting of local volunteers from Aberdeenshire we were able to expand our 2014 Seal Defence Campaign to Montrose/Lunan Bay then to the Dunnet Bay area in the far north near Thurso where we were able to focus our resources on coastal land and boat patrols for the duration of the 2014 wild salmon netting season.

SSUK’s deployment to the north coast and Orkney Islands was possible in part by the Hunt Saboteurs Association deploying teams in their own successful campaign to protect seals with intensive land based monitoring of the activities of salmon netsmen along the Montrose coastline.

Our patrols by land and sea in 2014 prevented any illegal shooting of seals and indeed any killing of seals where our teams and cameras were watching.

there are effective and proven methods of keeping seals away from netted fish

Sea Shepherd UK’s Seal Defence Campaign 2015 around Scotland will (as in 2014) provide monitoring of the activities of both fish farms and wild salmon/mixed fisheries netting companies which hold licenses from Marine Scotland to shoot seals to protect their catch/profits.

The licenses issued by Marine Scotland which specify numbers of seals, locations and conditions under which seals can be shot (the shooting of seals is always supposed to be a last resort option where all deterrent methods have failed) remains open to abuse by some fishing/fish farm companies with a complete absence of any government monitoring.

Years of successful scientific development and trials of acoustic devices (often called pingers) which keep seals away from coastal and river nets together with the effective use of secondary EcoNets around fish farm pens mean that there are effective and proven methods of keeping seals away from netted fish therefore making the shooting of seals unnecessary under the terms of the Marine Scotland seal shooting permits.

However some companies continue to invest fully in deterrent/ prevention equipment preferring the cheap option of buying bullets instead.

Typically every year over 300 seals are declared as having been shot – but this ‘official’ declared number of seals shot come solely from the companies and individuals who pull the triggers of the guns and Sea Shepherd UK is convinced the real number of seals shot greatly exceeds this official number and some conservation groups have previously claimed up to 2000 grey and common seals are shot around Scotland’s coast.

Sea Shepherd UK calls on Marine Scotland to re-assess their current policies regarding seals due to the proven seal deterrent methods now available and request the cancellation of all licenses.

Due to the continued absence of any proactive government or contracted independent teams tasked with monitoring the activities of these fishing companies – Sea Shepherd UK’s campaign crews will continue to fulfill this role and provide much needed patrols providing information to Police Scotland and water/river bailiffs to enable prosecutions for poaching and any other illegal activities.

our crews will be operating from a number of mainland coastal locations

Our campaign crew will intervene if necessary to prevent the illegal killing or deliberate harassment of iconic Scottish seals which are all protected species under UK and EU legislation.

Sea Shepherd’s 2015 Seal Defence Campaign in Scotland will be significantly larger than our campaign crew of last year already numbering over 60 volunteers joining us at their own expense from around Scotland as well as travelling from England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, USA and Chile to help defend Scotland’s seals.

For the next five months our crews will be operating from a number of mainland coastal locations and islands covering areas where seals are currently being shot illegally or allegedly legally under permit from Marine Scotland. Our international crew will be patrolling along the coastline by land and will use Sea Shepherd UK’s fast RIBs as well as being supported by two privately owned/operated vessels.

Sea Shepherd UK is offering a £5000 reward for information, photographic or video evidence which directly leads to the successful prosecution of any individuals or any companies (including their employees, representatives, contractors or agents) for deliberately and illegally killing any marine mammal (including seals) or endangered marine creature around the coastline of the United Kingdom or in UK territorial waters.

To submit information securely and confidentially please e-mail Sea Shepherd UK on: report@seashepherduk.org with as much information as possible including the location, date, time of the offence with clear photographs and/or HQ video when possible.

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MSP Welcomes Boost For Local Dairy Farmers

Aberdeenshire, News No Responses »

Feb 052015

Christian (L) with Roy Mitchell (R) at Drimmies Farm

North East MSP Christian Allard with Roy Mitchell at Drimmies Farm in Inverurie

With thanks to Ann-Marie Parry.

North East MSP Christian Allard has welcomed the news that a Scottish dairy brand will be launched this year – to promote Scottish produce at home and abroad and to provide additional support to our hard-working dairy farmers.
Last month, Mr Allard urged processors and supermarkets to support local dairy producers in the Year of Food and Drink 2015 and now Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs Richard Lochhead has announced that a detailed dairy action plan will be published.

Mr Allard recently visited Drimmies Farm in Inverurie to meet owner Roy Mitchell.

The farm has 400 dairy cows and for four generations Mitchells have been farming in the heart of rural Aberdeenshire providing the very best locally produced milk.

Christian Allard MSP said:

“This is a very welcome announcement by the Scottish Government – and will provide real support for local dairy farmers in the north-east of Scotland. This will further boost the Scottish economy, making it easier for consumers to choose Scottish products first.

“Scottish food and drink has an exceptional reputation across the world – and this new dairy brand will help further showcase Scotland’s produce and allow our farmers to further capitalise on this proud reputation and access more export opportunities.

“Dairy farmers play an important role in both the local and national economy – and I know that this increased Scottish Government support will be welcomed by farmers who can now face the future with an increased sense of confidence in the face of the changing price of milk.”

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MP Calls For Treasury To Protect North Sea Jobs

Aberdeenshire, Opinion 2 Responses »

Jan 232015

With thanks to Paul Robertson.

SNP MP for Banff & Buchan, Dr Eilidh Whiteford, has called on the UK Government to take urgent action on tax in order to protect North Sea jobs, in a debate held in Westminster this week.

With a falling oil price, a number of announcements of job losses have been made by oil operators, including the announcement by Talisman Sinopec this week that they would shed upto 300 jobs. Last week, the Scottish Government launched an Energy Jobs Taskforce to combat job losses.

In a debate at Westminster, Dr. Whiteford called for the UK Treasury to immediately act on the tax regime for North Sea oil and gas companies to encourage investment. Speaking after the debate, Dr. Whiteford commented:

“Reform to the oil and gas fiscal regime must not wait until the budget, but must be implemented now and this should include a commitment from the UK Government to a substantial reduction in the Supplementary Charge rate, which they introduced in 2011 to disastrous effect. In addition, faster progress is also required on the establishment of the Oil and Gas Authority.”

“The North Sea has suffered from an unstable and unpredictable fiscal regime for decades and companies now need urgent action in order to avoid the premature decommissioning of assets and the loss of highly skilled workers.”

“Successive Westminster governments have been quick to squeeze the industry at any opportunity, but when support is needed they are far slower off the mark.”

“A strong team of SNP MPs after the General Election will ensure that the needs of the sector cannot be put on the back burner, and that Westminster takes the action that is needed to protect jobs in the sector.”

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