Subsea UK Meets with Milliband and Hunt

15 December 2009

Subsea UK met with Ed Milliband and Lord Hunt recently in two separate meetings, to discuss future potential of the Subsea sector.

The government has taken more interest in the Subsea sector recently, and this has been demonstrated recently with meetings with Ed Milliband and most recently with Lord Hunt, at the House of Lords. These have been welcome moves, and this would appear to be part of the government taking more of a strategic look at the upstream sector, and how it will evolve for the future. On the agenda at these meetings have been the future of PILOT, emphasizing the need to look to the shape of the UKCS and key players for the future, and the interaction between investment and commitment towards stability over a longer term.

Both Subsea UK and a ministerial delegation led by Lord Hunt recently visited Moscow and the Murmansk region recently on separate missions and the future potential of this region as an export market was discussed, and Subsea UK expressed the importance of ensuring we have ministerial support for export missions, which was welcomed by the minister.

Also discussed were the implications and timing of a number of markets that are coming together, including offshore wind, marine renewable and decommissioning, with an emphasis of the importance of the subsea sector in all these markets.

Alistair Birnie, CEO of Subsea UK noted: "The timing is particularly good to consider all these diverse aspects to stimulate growth. We very much welcome the interest that the government has in what we are doing. However, we need to ensure that words are transformed into actions, and that the future is secured for UK subsea companies.”

Subsea UK hope to have Lord Hunt as a keynote speaker for the Subsea 2010 conference, which will focus on international business opportunities and technologies.