An inititiative to create an archive of the UK offshore oil and gas industry to ensure it is preserved for future generations will be launched at an event in Aberdeen.
A number of organisations, including Scottish Enterprise Grampian, the University of Aberdeen and major oil firms, are taking part in the "Capturing the Energy" project with hopes of creating a permanent base in the city for documents and artefacts dating back over the 40 years since the industry was founded and also into the future.
The idea evolved from a scheme to ensure the survival of records relating to the TOTAL-operated Frigg Gas field, which supplied up to a third of the UK’s gas and ceased operations in 2004 after 27 years. It then grew in scope to try to capture the broader history of the UK offshore oil and gas industry.
The aim is to encourage wider recognition of the huge importance of the offshore oil and gas industry to the UK by promoting the retention of the most significant records relating to the industry and enhancing future research programmes. It is hoped that achieving these aims will also attract new blood into the industry.
Those behind the project point to the fact the UK offshore oil and gas industry is among the most heavily-regulated in the world and, as a result, retains detailed, well-managed records.
They hope many of the industry’s main players will make provision for keeping the most important records as their operations evolve, ensuring that they can be safely stored in a central archive and made available both for current research, and for future generations.
Former energy minister Brian Wilson will chair the one-day conference at the University of Aberdeen on Wednesday,March 8, which will set targets for the project and discuss how to involve the industry.
Dr Miles Oglethorpe, manager of Architecture and Industry at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, is heavily involved in the project and will be speaking at the seminar.
He said: "In the UK we have a history of only recognising and recording industries as they have died off. Oil and Gas is a thriving and flourishing industry and we have a brilliant opportunity to gather together an extraordinary range of records, most of which are excellently maintained. This is a fantastic chance to ensure they are not lost as the industry evolves.
"The project started with us being contacted by Norwegians working to preserve the history of the Frigg field and has evolved virtually daily ever since.
"It’s a vast task and a real challenge to look at sifting through a huge volume of material from all over the country to find the really important stuff to save for posterity but it is really exciting."
He added: "We have the chance to create a research base for pupils as well as academics, to promote the industry in a positive way, and to attract new people to work in it in future.
"The conference will give us an opportunity to discuss how we can do it and possibly where the archive can be located."
Jean-Pierre Hurel, in charge of TOTAL’s Frigg cessation project in Stavanger, will tell delegates how the documentation project has become part of the decommissioning process.
Two Norwegian delegates, who have worked on ‘Ekofisk’, a pioneering project supported by ConocoPhillips, will also detail their experiences through their work for National Archives of Norway and the Norwegian Petroleum Museum in Stavanger.
Jennifer Craw, Scottish Enterprise Grampian chief executive, said: "The oil and gas industry has shaped the north-east and played a major role in the UK and global economies. Many of the advances made here are now being put to use around the world and it is important we remember the role we have played.
"This project is a way of doing that with the blessing and full co-operation of the industry."
Professor Christopher Gane, Vice Principal, Library and Information Systems, University of Aberdeen, said: "The University of Aberdeen is delighted to be working with all the partners involved in this project towards ensuring that all the records are preserved.
"It is our aim to ensure that the records are made available to researchers on a local, national and international level.
"I also think that the longer-term importance of this project is to secure these records as a major research and archival resource for the North East of Scotland."
As well as Scottish Enterprise Grampian, TOTAL, the University of Aberdeen and RCAHMS, the other project partners are Aberdeen City Council, the DTI, UKOOA, BP, Shell and BACS.