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Scotland's energy facts

Sgurr Energy. Director of Operations, Alan Smith with colleagues at Sgurr's Glasgow HQ.

Energy sector in Scotland

Latest stats and facts on Scotland's energy sector. Published April 2019.

Industry profile

The energy sector in Scotland is made up of a broad range of activities associated with the exploration, development, production and supply of hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon energy sources.

It's one of Scotland’s largest sectors by value. Scottish offshore oil and gas is hugely important in terms of UK energy security - as a source of fuel for
power, heating and transport - as well as a source of income for the UK Treasury.

While the recent low oil price has proven challenging for Scotland, as it has for many other oil producing nations, the Scottish supply chain is highly regarded on an international basis.

A decline in domestic sales has been partially offset by a rise in exports.

EC-OG energy hub being worked on at Hydrus in Brechin. Picture shows the Paul Slorach from EC-OG cleaning the Drivetrain.

Scottish oil and gas stats

109,200 employment*

39% of UK oil and gas employment (2017)

£9.2bn GVA

5.8% of total Scottish GDP (2016)

£9.7bn international sales*

£3.5bn export sales/£6.2bn international subsidiaries sales (2017)

Scottish low carbon stats

46,500 employment*

11.7% of total UK low carbon employment (2017)

£11bn turnover*

14% of total UK low carbon turnover (2017)

*includes supply chain

Staff and processes taken at Tokheim UK in Dundee

Low carbon and renewables

Scottish oil and gas supply chain companies are also increasingly diversifying into the low carbon and renewable energy sector, providing the skills and expertise to drive the nation’s transition to a low carbon economy.

Scotland already has a well-established onshore wind sector and substantial onshore wind capacity, which met almost half of the nation’s total electricity demand in 2017.

Scotland is also building market leading positions in emerging renewable technologies, via a combination of strong policy support, ambitious decarbonisation targets, extensive generation potential and a highly skilled company and academic base.

Among the world leading projects developed and hosted in Scotland are the world’s first tidal array, world’s first floating offshore wind farm and Europe’s largest hydrogen bus fleet.

Scotland is also pioneering new approaches to the production, management and use of energy at a local level, incorporating technologies such as battery storage and hydrogen generation.

Company insight

Energy** companies surveyed between January and March 2019
Performance last 6 months
  • 54% reported increased turnover
  • 33% reported improved profitability
Expectations next 6 months
  • 42% expect to grow exports
  • 56% expect to add staff

**aggregation of reported oil and gas and renewables sectors

Sharing expertise at the Scottish pavilion, Offshore Europe 2017

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