Scotland's Aberdeen Could Be "Global Energy Capital" Over Next 40 Years
Scotland is sitting on a potential gas fortune, accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has said, but it must act quickly to avoid losing the opportunity.
PwC estimates that the total gas in the UK Continental Shelf could total up to £376 billion (Sterling), or approximately €436 billion, over the next 40 years, with Scottish city Aberdeen set to become a "global energy capital." The firm made its announcement on the publishing of its report, "Northern Lights: a strategic vision of Aberdeen as a world-class energy capital."
"We have a remarkable--and potentially unrepeatable--opportunity to position the city as an international energy centre of excellence for the next 40 years," senior partner in Aberdeen Mark Higginson said. "However, this isn't simply going to fall to Aberdeen by right."
Mr. Higginson said that greater cooperation was needed between academic, financial and public sector stakeholders to ensure that the vision could become a reality.
"We need to shape our own destiny and the journey must start now, with everyone focused on a single, definitive strategy that embraces core objectives of maximising oil reserves, exploiting the new frontier areas West of Shetland and the Arctic, becoming a talent magnet and more effectively serving the needs of industry, and viewing clean energy not as a consolation prize but as a complement to oil and gas revenues."
Right now, PWC said, firms have become too focused on what their role will be in the industry, rather than how to further their mutual interests. It also warned that companies needed to invest more in finding and retaining new talent, with the report finding that more than two-thirds of chief executives saying they feared they did not have the right people to deal with the expanding sector.
Mr. Higginson said that the potential in the UK Continental Shelf should not be looked as a "cash cow", however, but as an opportunity for the government to attract long-term investments.
"The public sector has a clear role to play in showing leadership and helping to balance the competing views and interests of various stakeholders as well as helping improve the city's image and desirability as a place to live and work.
"The government also should view the UK Continental Shelf as an opportunity for investment and not simply as a 'cash cow' and also acknowledge the need for an attractive, transparent and stable fiscal regime."
Energy Director at PwC in Aberdeen Jonathon Shelley said that the country could not afford to be left behind.
"The investment opportunity exists now to become a key international player in these markets and Aberdeen needs to grasp this with both hands. We can't afford to be in the slow lane."