Thank you, Aberdeen – celebrating Offshore Europe
Alasdair Green of AAB looks back at this year's Offshore Europe.
Alasdair Green of AAB looks back at this year's Offshore Europe.
Water flowing from mountains to fjords in Norway will soon be helping power British homes, as the world's longest "interconnector" hooks up the two countries' grids.
This year’s Offshore Europe was set to a flying start - by a Spitfire performance outside the exhibition centre.
Aberdeen will always be the key place for offshore oil and gas activity, believes the man behind the successful Offshore Europe conference.
To buy pictures from our 40 Years of Offshore Europe supplement, or from our picture archive, visit PhotoshopScotland or call 01224 343332.
To view and buy a wide selection of images from the last 40 years of Offshore Europe, visit PhotoshopScotland or call 01224 343332
Judith Patten was the PR consultant to Offshore Europe for almost 25 years (1975-1999), only she became a lot more than that; more like a part of the furniture. This is her far too short take on the show as we asked her to cram it into just 800 words
To help put a scale on the boom that was by now gripping Aberdeen, filling its bars, hotels and bed and breakfasts to capacity, some 500 companies had arrived in the city over the period 1970-77.
So where next for Offshore Europe as Stott battled to anchor it solidly in a small seaport so far away from just about anywhere and best known for fish than anything else?
Industrial estate planning progressed and Aberdeen harbour saw the occasional oil support vessel. Back then, drillships were small enough to get into the port too.
Forty years ago, the North Sea was a mere stripling of an energy province; no one had a clue how much oil and gas was out there, except that sceptics said it would all be over in a decade.
Offshore Scotland was a success; so where to next? Founder David Stott’s ambition was to grow the show; but how? More tents at Aberdeen University in March were not the way forward.
Aberdeen in the mid-1960s was seen as a city in decline; a state of affairs witnessed by Energy’s editor, then just into long trousers.