First Minister Alex Salmond has announced a new centre of excellence is to be created in Aberdeen. The new Oil and Gas Innovation Centre (OGIC) has received £10.6m in funding and will transform industry and academic collaboration.

Based in Aberdeen and funded by the Scottish Funding Council and supported by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands & Islands Enterprise, the facility will bring together more than 2,300 oil and gas operators and service companies with 12 Scottish universities with more than 450 academic staff and researchers working primarily on oil and gas specific technologies.

The OGIC priorities are:

• Enhanced Oil Recovery

• Subsea – including Subsea Tie Backs, Separation, Injection and Metering

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• Seismic and Reservoir Characterization – including subsurface imaging

• Shale gas exploitation

• Asset integrity and life extension

• Decommissioning

• Production Optimisation

• Well Construction, Drilling and Completions including High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT)

• Health, Safety, Environment and Project Management.

The OGIC will also support industry aims to increase production and reduce costs in the UK Continental Shelf by allowing the delivery of ground-breaking technical solutions, using the skills and expertise of Scottish universities, innovators and industry.

First Minister Alex Salmond explained: "Recent estimates suggest that activity in the North Sea fields will last for decades with 24 billion barrels of oil equivalent, valued at £1.5 trillion.

"Almost all oil production and more than half of total gas production over the next three decades will take place in Scottish waters. And, of course, only through independence would Scotland receive the tax revenues from this production.

"As an international oil and gas exporter, Scotland is undeniably a main player and that is why it is so important we harness the expertise of our universities and bring them together with industry.

"Increasingly, our companies are embracing the major opportunities in the oil and gas supply chain, winning lucrative contracts to export products and services from Scotland."

(JP/MH)