New technology platform to help fill void left by exhibitions wipeout


Colin Black

Scottish and Dutch oil business and technology development experts are joining forces to create a new online catalogue to help fill the void left by the Covid-induced obliteration of the exhibitions circuit.

The UK Energy Technology Platform (ETP) will go online during the current quarter, giving innovators and inventors a new, and free, way of promoting and showcasing their field-ready oil and gas and green energy devices.

It builds on the existing TechnologyCatalogue.com website, launched in 2018 and led by managing partner Erik Nijveld, former technology deployment manager at Shell in the Netherlands.

Colin Black, managing director of Aberdeen-based technology deployment service company Carjon-NRG, said he “loved” what Mr Nijveld had built.

Mr Black saw the absence from the catalogue of Scottish and UK technologies as an opportunity to help develop an equivalent platform covering that base.

He said print catalogues were impossible to keep up-to-date, but that the website would flip the problem “on its head” and giving the technology developers responsibility for keeping their entries fresh.

Mr Nijveld said operators were often keen to innovate, but struggled to work out which technologies were available.

He said the UK ETP would make finding technology “as easy as finding a great restaurant or accommodation online”.

The individual technology entries will include in-depth descriptions, information about previous deployments, as well as reviews.

Mr Black said the platform would support the North Sea oil industry’s ambitions to meet as much UK energy demand as possible while lowering emissions from operations.

He said: “It will support the industry with the drive to make the most of existing assets whilst reducing carbon dioxide emissions. It will also support the UK economy through the export of UK technologies and expertise.”

The highly-decorated Mr Black has worked in the oil and gas sector for almost 40 years.

He received a distinguished service award and became a distinguished member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers International in 2017.

A year later, he was appointed a “global Scot” by the Scottish Government and in 2020 he received an “award of council” from the Energy Institute.

He also chairs the Nasa in Aberdeen Inspiring the Next Generation of 21st Century Explorers schools education project.


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