Xodus Group is undertaking an international study on behalf of Scottish Enterprise to determine competitiveness and innovation in the Scottish subsea market and benchmark capabilities with regions across the world.
Over the next 12 months, the findings should help shape a range of projects and activities in support of Scottish Enterprise’s Subsea Engineering Action Plan.
Following initial analysis of Scotland’s competitive advantages, Xodus will conduct a comparison of key international subsea hubs. This will include an examination of each region’s capabilities, such as company bases, supportive policies, research funding, institutes and the industry bodies available for developing these strengths.
Xodus’ team of subsea specialists will work with its global database of contacts to deliver the results under eight distinct focus areas. These include project lifecycle, key individual technologies, subsea processing and specific non-O&G industries.
Andrew Wylie , operations director for Scotland and Norway at Xodus Group, said: “We have created our own ‘knowledge database’ from our experience in subsea engineering which retains knowledge from all our projects to support internal learning, innovation and efficiencies when delivering projects. This will support our team in identifying any perceived gaps in services, technologies or capabilities provided by the Scottish market.
“With the general lack of available benchmarking data globally, including in the North Sea, our extensive track record in subsea projects and our existing analysis of them, are particularly important to gather an understanding of where technology or services have failed or been successful. In partnership with Scottish Enterprise, we look forward to working with the sector’s leading organisations to tackle the subsea challenges which will benefit the industry in Scotland.”
David Rennie , sector head for oil & gas at Scottish Enterprise, added: “We’ve worked closely with Xodus in recent years and know with its international experience and expertise that they are well equipped to deliver this important piece of work.
“Scotland already accounts for 14% of the global subsea market, comprising over 600 companies, generating an estimated annual turnover of £7.5 billion. The results of this study will allow us to identify where Scottish subsea companies can deploy their skills and support our plans for delivering a wide range of projects to ensure our companies are well placed to take advantage of new opportunities going forward.”