Seven-figure funding boost for oil and gas focused centre

£2 million grant award for recently announced facility Aims to foster further innovation by ‘world-class’ site

Theaberdeen-basedoil&gas Technology Centre (OGTC) has been awarded nearly £2 million by the Scottish Government to invest in the recently announced National Decommissioning Centre of Excellence to help drive further sector innovation.

The government’s Decommissioning Challenge Fund has rubber-stamped the £1.9m grant funding for the multimillion-pound facility. Plans for the centre, which is jointly being created by the University of Aberdeen, were revealed last month.

Scottish business minister Paul Wheelhouse confirmed the award during a visit to the university’s Oceanlab facility, where the new centre will be based.

Scheduled to open in late 2018, it will tackle current and future challenges with “worldclass” research and development in partnership with the oil and gas industry in the UK and globally.

The funding will be used in four key areas. These include a digital collaboration environment, enabling academia and oil and gas companies to team up in an “entirely new way”, and an underwater cutting laser that it says could save the industry up to £90m, aiming to partner with firms to create an offering that will be trialled on the UK Continental Shelf.

The two remaining areas set to receive funding comprise a dedicated computer lab, allowing for the fast simulation and modelling of highvalue decommissioning services and scenarios, and manufacturing capability, using state-of-the-art engineering resources to rapidly develop new technology for testing, certification and deployment.

Those behind the centre said they are seeking industry partners with “experience, ideas and equipment, who want to co-invest with us to deliver a step change in performance and help deliver at least a 35 per cent reduction in the cost of decommissioning”.

Roger Esson, Decommissioning Solution Centre manager, said: “The funding will help create an environment that fosters innovation, and where academia and industry can work together on cuttingedge solutions.”

Richard Neilson, dean of research and knowledge exchange, University of Aberdeen, said: “This investment from the Scottish Government is testament to our plans for a world-class centre for research and development… [we] look forward to helping develop the innovation, expertise and skills that will play an important role in the future of the industry.”

emma.newlands@scotsman.com