Scale of OGTC opportunity to be revealed at Technology Showcase

ABERDEEN, Scotland -- The far-reaching benefits of the proposed Oil & Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) will be revealed to delegates at the Technology Showcase in Aberdeen.

Maggie McGinlay, senior director of energy at Scottish Enterprise, will address delegates at the event at AECC on Wednesday on the scale of opportunity that creating a technology center of excellence in Aberdeen will deliver in terms of maximizing economic recovery from the UK Continental Shelf, retaining high value jobs and cementing the city’s position as an export hub.

Delegates at the conference and exhibition, organized by the Industry Technology Facilitator (ITF) in partnership with Oil & Gas UK, will hear more about the public sector funding that the Aberdeen City Region Deal has allocated for the world class OGTC and plans to secure further private sector engagement and funding for the project.

The OGTC has been developed with and is supported by industry stakeholders including the Oil & Gas Authority (OGA), Oil & Gas UK (OGUK), the Technology Leadership Board (TLB), Opportunity North East (ONE), Scottish Enterprise, the University of Aberdeen and Robert Gordon University. The Industry Technology Facilitator (ITF) and Oil and Gas Innovation Centre (OGIC) will also have a role to play in supporting OGTC activities.

“We have a major opportunity through the creation of a global center for oil and gas technology innovation to support economic recovery from the North Sea basin by initially targeting solutions to challenges around small pools, well construction, asset integrity and decommissioning,” McGinlay said. “This is unlike any oil and gas focused facility we’ve seen in the region or UK before and, in terms of public and private sector backing, will be similar to the Aerospace Technology Institute, which has secured significant research and technology investment to maintain the UK’s competitive position in a global marketplace.”

Professor Paul de Leeuw, director, Oil and Gas Institute, Robert Gordon University, has been part of the team developing the OGTC concept. He said: “The initial focus will be on establishing solution centers to deliver quick fixes on some of the problems hampering North Sea production while the longer-term ambition is to have a national center with research facilities and space dedicated to incubating new ideas.

Subject to City Region Deal funding being secured by summer 2016, the expectation is that the first managed solution centers will be created this year, with initial delivery and output expected from 2017 onwards.