A new Scottish business networking event linking key energy hubs in Scotland and Australia has been launched in Aberdeen.
The inaugural Aberdeen – Perth, WA Gateway event – hosted by Granite-PR and managed by Business Plus Scotland – was held in Aberdeen in association with the Australasian Oil & Gas Exhibition and Conference and the Government of Western Australia.
The event was chaired by Helen Tulloch of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult oil and gas consortium. Speakers included Cllr Allison Grant, Deputy Provost of Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen Cllr John Reynolds, Deputy Lord Provost and – by video link – the Rt Hon. Lisa Scaffidi, Lord Mayor of Perth, WA.
Keynote speaker was John Atkins, Agent General for the Government of Western Australia’s European Office.
Agent General Atkins – some of whose forebears came from Aiberdeen – commented: “One of the primary reasons for being here today in Aberdeen is to remind you that Western Australia, both onshore and offshore, still represents a business development opportunity whether for plant and equipment or operational service support and maintenance.
“There are current and prospective developments taking place across the Western Australian offshore landscape for which we still need to access the technology and expertise that comes out of Europe and the US.
“The bulk of development offshore Western Australia is gas-based, with a number of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects either producing or close to coming on stream and there are many particular areas of potential shared interest between Western Australia and Aberdeen. For example:
“I would anticipate that there will be an increased reliance on tie backs to extract value from existing gas resources. So, subsea expertise is going to be an ongoing and growing requirement in Western Australia.
“Technology transfer within the energy sector remains an opportunity for all with expertise to share.
In particular, I make mention of renewable energy with a number of Perth companies already active in Europe.
“Decommissioning expertise developed in the North Sea will be invaluable to us <in Perth, Western Australia> as we start to address this challenge, a process which has started but an area where you <in Scotland> are well ahead of the knowledge curve compared to us.
The Aberdeen – Perth, WA Gateway event drew inspiration from the success of Granite PR’s Aberdeen-Houston, Texas, and Aberdeen-Norway Gateways, offering a valuable and cost-effective platform for knowledge sharing and networking between two leading energy hubs.
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