Heriot Watt University has won a £250,000 grant from the recently-established Oil and Gas Authority to research prospects for new oil discoveries off Scotland in the Mid North Sea High areas of the central North Sea.
This is the first such award made by the new regulatory body (OGA) which’ demonstrates the UK Government’s commitment’ towards a long-term investment in UK academic skills in energy-related disciplines.
Professor John Underhill, Professor of Exploration Geoscience at Heriot-Watt, said: “I am delighted that the UK Government is demonstrating its support for and strong commitment to teaching and research in Applied Geoscience by awarding us this grant worth £250,000.
“It will support a two year full-time Post-doctoral research position which will undertake a Mid North Sea High study as part of OGA’s inaugural ‘Frontier Basins’ research initiative.
“I have since learnt that the award was won in the face of stiff competition as there were a total of eight bids involving 10 universities. The award was also aided and facilitated by our recent successful bid to house the Oil and Gas Authority’s 3D Visualisation Suite in the Lyell Centre at the Edinburgh campus.
“The state of the art equipment will help better interpret complex geological and engineering data and the open access facility will support the dissemination of data and analytical tools to academia and industry alike. It will be named after our illustrious alumna, Dame May Ogilvie-Gordon.”
The two awards mean that OGA has invested almost £1 Million in Heriot-Watt and the Lyell Centre to date.
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