Secretary of State for Scotland Visits Bibby Offshore

Aberdeen-based subsea installation contractor Bibby Offshore today hosted a visit by the Secretary of State for Scotland, Rt. Hon. Michael Moore MP, as part of a fact-finding mission on the energy sector in the city in conjunction with Oil & Gas UK.

He joined senior representatives from Bibby Offshore for a tour of Aberdeen harbour and heard how the company has successfully grown both in the UK North Sea and internationally with plans for further expansion.

Bibby Offshore Managing Director Fraser Moonie said: “We were delighted to have the opportunity to host the visit by a senior minister from the UK cabinet who can influence future energy policy.

“Activity in the North Sea is strong and we expect it to continue to be so, while our international operations are also growing. As a result, we have continued our investment programme in vessels and the necessary recruitment in people to support the growth within the business.

 “We recruited approximately 75 new staff in Aberdeen last year and plan to add a further 70 this year thanks to our investment in new tonnage serving the North Sea market. We now have more than 200 onshore and 450 offshore staff based out of Aberdeen, Singapore and Trinidad. To accommodate the ongoing increase in staff numbers and services, we are moving to new purpose-built headquarters in the Aberdeen area in 2013.’’

The Minister also met graduates Katie Roberts and Charlie Jordan who joined Bibby Offshore as part of its Bibby Academy initiative to add to the talent within the business. It involves a graduate recruitment programme, attracting and retraining personnel from other industries via a skills conversion course and supporting ongoing staff training and development.

Mr Moonie continued: “Our business is about people and one of our core values is to realise their talent and empower them to achieve. There are well-documented skills challenges facing our industry and we are working to overcome them through our Bibby Academy initiative and the skills conversion courses. Any support and initiatives available at both local and national government level would clearly be welcomed in order to help meet the employment demand. “

The Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore, said: “The oil and gas sector is of immense importance to our economy and it is important that we support a business environment which creates stability and investment confidence and leads to growth and jobs. The UK Government is working to support the industry and I was glad to hear about Bibby’s recent successes first hand in Aberdeen today.”

 Oil & Gas UK’s Supply Chain Director David Ripley’s said: “The current wave of investment in UK oil and gas projects is keeping the supply chain very busy and Oil & Gas UK’s index of business confidence for the first quarter of the year, published today, shows the highest level since the Index began. There is concern however that while tax changes announced in the 2012 Budget help to bring about greater certainty for investment in the medium and long term, the current wave of investment will result in increasing operational and employment costs which reduce the attractiveness of the province.

“It is encouraging to see Bibby and other companies addressing this issue by investing in new capacity and expanding the pool of equipment and talented people. Oil & Gas UK will continue to promote a co-ordinated approach to sustaining the domestic activity of our world-leading supply chain and ensuring it remains anchored in the UK.”

Bibby Offshore recently made major multi-million pound investments in adding two new vessels to the fleet and also has expanded its in-house capabilities to include ROV support and survey provision, further expansion is planned through 2012/2013.

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Source: Bibby Offshore, May 10, 2012