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The Future Of Aberdeen As An Energy City: Part 4

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Mar 112016

Part Four: In The Long Term. By Mike Shepherd

Consider this scenario for Aberdeen and the Northeast of Scotland:

There are no jobs to be had in the area, the existing industries are in decline and those employed in them are poorly paid. Unemployment is above the Scottish average. The population is falling at an astonishing rate of 4,500 per year as the locals seek jobs elsewhere.
Unfavourable comparisons are being made between Dundee and Aberdeen; Dundee is attracting inward investment on the back of preferential treatment from the government, whereas Aberdeen all on its own in the forgotten northeast corner is all but ignored.

No, not a prediction for the future, it is an actual economic snapshot of the Aberdeen area in the 1960s just before North Sea oil was discovered.

Once the oil companies leave, Aberdeen could return to economic circumstances that would be even worse than in the 1960s. At least back then there was some semblance to a diversified economy in the city. Aberdeen was dominated by the fishing industry with over a hundred trawlers in the harbour. It was also a popular tourist destination in the days before foreign travel became common.

Visitors were attracted to the city described then as the ‘Silver City by the Golden Sands’. There were two ship-building yards at the harbour and paper, textiles and combs were made in the city. Not much of this is now left. Aberdeen’s future could be an even bleaker shadow of its past if no action is taken soon to remedy this.

One thing hasn’t changed much since the 1960s however, Aberdeen’s shockingly poor transport links with the rest of the country. Given the city’s relatively remote location this does not bode well for an economic future. The road network in Aberdeenshire is a joke and the railway connection to the south has been shockingly neglected.

The rail link is still single track at Montrose, a well-known bottleneck, although a long overdue action to remedy this may now be about to happen.

Aberdeen can consider itself very hard done by. As pointed out in a previous Aberdeen Voice article ‘How Aberdeen was short-changed over North Sea oil’ – the onshore infrastructure to support North Sea oil was paid by local government and assisted by our rates / council taxes but not by the UK government. Between 1975 and the early 1990s the expenditure by the Grampian Regional Council was in excess of £100 million per year.

The other areas affected by North Sea oil are faring much better than we are. Revenue from the Sullom Voe and Flotta oil terminals means that Shetland now sits on an oil fund of £400 million and the equivalent in Orkney is just under £200 million.

A plan by Grampian Regional Council to levy rates on offshore platforms as a means of funding onshore infrastructure was blocked by the Treasury. Given that the UK tax take from North Sea oil and gas is now over £300 billion in today’s money, there is a strong moral case for the government to now help Aberdeen to establish an economic base for the future.

Our local politicians and media will need to shout very loudly that it was our local government that bankrolled the needs of the oil industry only for all the revenues to go elsewhere.

Yet, the perception is that the city has somehow squandered what should have been its golden goose; that some enormous pot of money was available to Aberdeen to do with whatever we wanted to. Here’s a recent example of this nonsense.

An opinion piece in the Dundee Courier headlined ‘Aberdeen boost: right deal but the wrong city’, referred to the recent Aberdeen City Deal, the proposed investment of £250 million in the city announced in January this year:

“I’d argue that Dundee and Perth – jointly progressing a City Deal bid at the moment – are more worthy of that investment at this moment.

“That may sound like sour grapes, but my rationale is this. As the black gold tap ran, Aberdeen had its chance to build a broad-based economy fit to withstand the rigours of the modern world. It had the opportunity to future-proof itself and create prosperity for generations to come. But, if not lost, that chance has certainly not been grasped.”

So what should Aberdeen do to diversify its economy?

I’m a petroleum geologist not an economist, so I will not profess to any special insights on the issue. Others have noted that the city could play to certain strengths; more could be done to attract tourists, particularly given the region’s scenic attractions and heritage. The area is strong in biomedicine through its academic institutions and who knows, a rump of the oil industry may linger in the city servicing the petroleum industry globally.

I will make one comment though. The most obvious successor to the oil industry in Aberdeen is the renewable energy sector. Aberdeen’s future as an energy city should be as and energy city. The city already hosts engineering companies and technical knowhow. There is an obvious crossover to be made.

This isn’t the first time that renewables has been promoted for the city and region. We have the Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group (AREG) and more recently the Energetica initiative to establish the Aberdeenshire coastal strip as a corridor for the renewables industry. Neither of these has taken off big time, part of the problem being the high cost bases of the area driven up by the presence of the oil industry.

Nevertheless, the recent oil price crash has focussed attention on the need to diversify the Aberdeen economy. The politicians need to push and push until this happens with absolute determination and drive. It will take government money, but for Aberdeen, the turbo-charged motor of the UK economy for the last 40 years, it’s payback time.

Mike Shepherd is author of Oil Strike North Sea, a history of North Sea oil. Join him in an upcoming session to discuss the impact of the oil industry on our shores:
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 3

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Mar 032016

Part Three: The Scrapheap Challenge. By Mike Shepherd

Aberdeen Harbour. Picture: Mike Shepherd

A huge industrial undertaking is about to take place off the Scottish coast involving billions of pounds of expenditure; this is decommissioning.
As a result of an international convention for the NE Atlantic area, oil companies are obliged to remove most of the offshore infrastructure, including oil platforms and pipelines, once oil and gas production operations have ceased.

The scrap material will be brought onshore and disposed off accordingly. It will not be allowed to remain in place offshore unless there are good reasons to do so.

The scale of this operation is massive. Once the last drop of oil has been produced, it will have involved the dismantling of about 475 offshore installations, 10,000 kilometres of pipeline and 15 onshore oil and gas terminals. According to the industry body Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) decommissioning will entail £55 billion of expenditure by 2050.

Let’s repeat that figure again – an industry that will spend £55 billion (and that’s probably an underestimate) is about to hit our shores big time. The coastal cities and towns of the UK and Norway will provide the bases for this undertaking. Some of it has already happened, three of the Brent field platforms are being decommissioned, although the activity has been relatively small-scale to date.

Given the currently low oil price, it’s possible that the volume of work involved could increase substantially from now on. OGUK have predicted that 79 oil and gas platforms could be abandoned by 2024; another estimate puts this figure as high as 146 out of the 300 platforms standing in the North Sea in a similar time scale.

The world of business is acutely aware of the opportunities involved and we may be on the cusp of a feeding frenzy as companies pile in to grab what is a large and guaranteed pot of cash. The big attraction for business in getting involved with decommissioning is that it is a major growth area. Not only is there an enormous amount of guaranteed work coming up; new technologies will need to be developed given the challenges involved.

Other offshore areas in the world will eventually become the focus of decommissioning and this provides the potential for any single company to become a major internationally-established corporation worth billions on the back of gaining experience in the North Sea. The prize is enormous.

Even at this early stage it’s possible to identify trends likely to transform into future newspaper headlines. You heard them here first.

The Aberdeen versus Dundee rivalry over the spoils from North Sea oil has revived. Dundee has never particularly prospered from oil and gas and this is a source of discontent for the Tayside city.

Dundee is now repositioning itself to become a major centre for decommissioning. Forth Ports, owned by a private equity company, are spending £10 million on upgrading the eastern end of Dundee harbour for decommissioning and offshore wind projects.

Aberdeen Harbour Board, not wishing to lose out on a vitally important industry at a time when the oil companies will be finally leaving the city, intends to turn Nigg Bay into a deep-water harbour.

According to the details given with the Aberdeen City Deal this will enable Aberdeen to compete for decommissioning work.

The development of Nigg Bay is controversial; local residents have been less than impressed with pictorial representations of the future development, complete with cruise ships and the surrounding open green space shown rather improbably as being left intact. The business behemoth of decommissioning will be very difficult to stop however.

One other area that could fill future headlines is the scale of the government involvement. The government are committed to a part-funding of decommissioning through tax breaks although the legislation is complex and it is not clear as to how much money is involved. The Guardian reckons the percentage tax relief is between 50 and 75 per cent of the total expenditure.

OGUK have recently quoted an estimate that the taxpayer will be providing £16 billion for decommissioning work by 2050 although this figure looks on the low side. The tax breaks will prove a major future liability for the UK government (or a Scottish government should independence come).

One question begs to be asked. What happens if an oil company goes bust and it doesn’t have any money to pay for decommissioning? I would anticipate there are contingency plans for this situation, although I suspect it’s a hyper-sensitive issue in government circles. The issue dogs open-cast mining operations in the Central Belt of Scotland and in Wales where several mine operators have folded before the reinstatement of the land could happen.

The legal and practical issues involved have proved to be a nightmare.

There are also the environmental implications. The Aberdeen Voice has already been at the forefront of highlighting pollution problems caused by the dumping of material from North Sea oil operations. https://aberdeenvoice.com/2014/04/bleak-day-blackdog-beach/

It will be important to ensure that future decommissioning work is carried out in an environmentally circumspect manner and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency will have much work on its hands to monitor all of this.

Big money will come to the Scottish coastal cities and towns over the next few decades from decommissioning. Aberdeen will get a share of some of this work, although it remains to be seen whether the city can chase off the challenge from Dundee to become a potential national centre for the decommissioning industry. It’s the scrapheap challenge.

Next week – the final part of the series: The long-term future for Aberdeen.

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 2

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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:

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The Future Of Aberdeen As An Energy City: Part 1

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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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Oil Strike North Sea – Duncan Harley Reviews

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Feb 112016

By Duncan Harley

As oil prices remain volatile and the UK government records its first losses in 40 years from North Sea oil and gas production, Aberdeen geologist Mike Shepherd has penned a classic.

An industry insider, Mike has produced a highly accessible and non-technical account of how the North Sea energy boom took shape, the ups and downs of the industry and the story of the people who made it all happen.

In the true tradition of all good writers, Mike writes about what he knows best, in this case the search for Black Gold.

While on a geological field trip to Skye in 1978, Mike had witnessed first hand the construction of the Ninian Central platform.

Fabricated in Loch Kishorn and weighing in at an impressive 601,000 tons, the concrete and steel structure was reckoned at the time to be the largest man made structure ever to be moved across the surface of the earth.

“The North Sea proved to be a new frontier for the oil companies … they had been offshore before … but never in waters quite so stormy or so deep,” writes Mike.

The huge discoveries in the Forties Field in 1970, the share price crash of Black Monday 1987, and the inevitable influence of big money are discussed in detail. The effects of taxation, international politics and equity negotiations feature alongside the human cost in terms of accidents, including of course Piper Alpha

The decline in North Sea reserves as a strategic resource for the nation comes under close scrutiny. Mike predicts that production will finally cease around 2050 after which a massive clean up operation costing around £31.5 billion will be required.

In a chapter simply titled ‘Aberdeen’, Mike looks at the social and economic effects of boom and bust on the Granite City. Infrastructure including both the airport and the harbour initially needed urgent investment to serve and secure the initial 500 or so oil-related companies who set up in the city between 1970 and 1977.

Amazingly in 1972:

“The airport was quite basic and the arrival/departure building was an old Nissan Hut. One end was the bar and the other end was the tickets and seats. The same bloke did both jobs.”

With a foreword by Diane Morgan who comments:

“Given the depth of its subject matter it is an amazingly readable book”,

this publication is essential reading both amongst those of us who strive to understand the phenomenon of oil, and also those of us who strive to extract that Black Gold.

Oil Strike North Sea (187pp) is published in hardback by Luath Press at £20

ISBN 978-1-910745-21-2

First published in the February 2016 edition of Leopard Magazine.

Medical Cannabis Oil Assistance Scheme Launches

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Jan 212016

With thanks to Suzanne Kelly.

Scottish Cannabis Oil Assistance Programme is a new entity that will help people with medical conditions purchase CBD oil. CBD oil is now legal in the United Kingdom, and worldwide evidence is mounting that oil may be beneficial to sufferers of conditions such as ME, Fibromyalgia and Epilepsy.

The founders are keen to stress they make no promises to alleviate or disease. They merely want to help people who want to use CBD oil but who cannot afford it.

It is up to anyone with an illness to make the decision to use any oil themselves and/or with their medical practitioner. The THC in cannabis, which results in the ‘high’, is removed from CBD oil products.

Details of the scheme can be found here: http://scoap.yolasite.com/

Donors are sought; regular donations or one-offs are welcome. Those who already know they benefit from CBD oil are able to register, and those who want further information will find some answers on the website as well.

The scheme was started after one of the founders, Suzanne Kelly, found that some of her acquaintances were unable to afford CBD oil, but that oil had a very positive impact on these people’s health. Initially helping a few people, it is hoped that more donors will come forward.

Kelly said:

“Research and anecdotal evidence certainly seems to indicate that people with severe medical conditions or with severe nausea (whether from illnesses such as CVS or from medical treatment) are benefiting from cannabis oil use. Quality oil is however very expensive to produce and sell, or import, and is out of reach of some people.

“I hope that we will recruit more sponsors to help people. One person I know with a debilitating disease tells me oil use decreases their pain and increases their mobility. There are three founders; none of us will take any payment, expense reimbursement of any kind – 100% of donations will be going on purchasing and delivering cannabis oil to those who need it.”

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Clark Integrated Technologies Celebrates Landmark Year

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Jan 072016

Aberdeen, Tuesday, 24th March 2015 Clark Integrated Technologies, Auchterless, Turriff, Aberdeenshire, AB53 8EP (Picture by Michal Wachucik/Newsline Media Ltd)

Clark IT management team (from left) Marie Adams, Amar Mirashi, Austen Clark and Margo Robertson.

With thanks to Esther Green, Senior Account Executive, Tricker PR.

2016 is a milestone year for leading North-east ICT specialists Clark Integrated Technologies which celebrates 25 years in business.

Clark IT is marking its silver anniversary with a series of special events, including a gala dinner at Fyvie Castle in July.

From humble beginnings – Clark Computers started trading from the family farm near Turriff – the business has grown into a company with 26 employees that is regarded as a leading independent provider of managed Information and Communications Technology solutions to a broad range of corporate and commercial clients across Scotland.

The company’s integrated solutions provide industry-leading services, productivity and cost effective IT platforms for business growth, allowing its clients to outsource key services to improve performance freeing their own time and resources to focus on core business.

In the past year alone, Clark IT was named among the top managed service providers in the world in the annual MSP mentor 501 list; it achieved ISO 9001 and its support of modern apprenticeships was recognised when the company came runner-up in the Microsoft Scottish apprentice employer of the year award.

The firm, based at Auchterless, near Turriff, is a Microsoft Silver Partner, a quality standard approved by the global tech company and is a one of only a handful of authorised Apple consultants in Scotland with dedicated support technicians experienced in the use of Apple products in the business world.

Managing director Austen Clark says:

“Clark IT has come a long way in 25 years – just think of the technological advances there have been in that period that have revolutionised the way we live and do business.

“We face the future with considerable optimism and look forward to many more years of growth and positively contributing to the economy of the North-east of Scotland.”

Founded in 1991 as Clark Computers by current chairman Graham Clark, the business was set up with a staff of 2 and operated from its rural location outside Turriff. The steady development and growth of the company facilitated the need for larger premises and it moved to its current site at Auchterless, which was previously the Towie Tavern, in 2003.

Clark IT is a leading independent provider of managed Information and Communications Technology solutions to a broad range of corporate and commercial clients across Scotland. For more information, see the firm’s website at www.clark-it.com

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School Pupils To Compete In Energy Industry Quiz

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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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Oil & Gas Firm To Expand After Winning £1.3m In Contracts

Aberdeen City, Environment, Featured No Responses »

Sep 102015

Tim Martin, managing director of Aberdeen-based Ramboll Oil & Gas UK

With thanks to Leanne Carter, Account Manager, Tricker PR.

Global engineering consultancy Ramboll Oil & Gas plans to expand its workforce in Aberdeen by up to one-third after securing £1.3m worth of new work since the start of the year.

The company hopes to recruit at least seven new members of staff to its team in the Granite City across process engineering, technical safety, structural and piping disciplines.

Ramboll Oil & Gas, which launched in Aberdeen just over a year ago, has won several new contracts for key clients operating in the UKCS over the past eight months.

One of the most significant pieces of work has been for Maersk Oil UK on its Culzean field 145 miles east of Aberdeen. The contract was for the detailed design of two jackets for a central processing facility platform and a separate utilities and living quarter platform.

Ramboll Oil and Gas UK managing director Tim Martin (pictured) expects business to be brisk at the firm’s Offshore Europe stand this week, with a substantial amount of interest from jobseekers.

He adds,

“The progress we have made over the past year has been above any expectation that we had for launching Ramboll Oil & Gas in Aberdeen, particularly in such a challenging economic climate. We are working on a wide range of contracts that reflect the scope of our capabilities, from subsea and topside projects to detailed design and procurement for a range of key North Sea operators.

“This is a huge achievement in a declining energy market, however this exceptional performance has happened by good design rather than good luck. It is clear that the market in Aberdeen is ready to embrace a different approach, and that is what we are offering with our model of cost-effective engineering solutions that are fit for purpose.

“We have an excellent global network of highly talented consultants, and we are keen to add to this by expanding our Aberdeen team. We need to recruit at least seven additional members of staff in order to deliver on what we expect will be a continued period of growth over the next year.

“Due to the very difficult job market in Aberdeen we are already responding to a huge rise in recruitment enquiries, and we will be manning our stand at Offshore Europe with personnel specifically to deal with new CVs and applications.”

Ramboll Oil & Gas will be joined at Offshore Europe by colleagues from Ramboll Environ. The division is working closely with the Aberdeen team on a number of projects, particularly in relation to North Sea decommissioning.

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 has offices in the USA, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, India, Denmark, Norway and UK, and employs around 900 specialists.

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