BVAA at NOF Energy Conference

‘Decades of Opportunity’ - Industry experts provide sector outlook and highlight some landmark future projects

Delegates who attended NOF’s national conference and exhibition were privy to insight provided by industry leaders on the future of the energy industry. The huge audience, which included the BVAA and a number of our members, heard from EC Harris that while the world’s energy mix is expected to change over the coming decades - oil and gas will continue to play a key role. Indeed, as far in the future as 2050 oil is expected to remain the world’s number one energy source with gas overtaking coal into second place.

While these traditional energy sources will remain integral to the energy mix, it is expected that both nuclear and off-shore wind will increase their share of the mix also. It was therefore of great interest to hear from both Jacobs and Siemens on opportunities for the UK supply chain in Nuclear and Wind respectively. Engaging the UK supply chain was a key theme of the conference, as was technology - it was fascinating to hear from Total on the new technologies that have prolonged the maturity of the UKCS and opened up new markets. New technologies such as the ones discussed at the conference are expected to enable several more ‘decades of opportunity.’

As well as the key note speeches the exhibition provided a good chance to engage with potential clients and suppliers alike. It gave us a chance to catch up with the BVAA members in attendance, all of whom were pleased with their outputs. One member commented that he had targeted a number of companies in advance and had been impressed with how open they had been with information.

Published: 26th June 2013