I was in Perth last week for the major Australasia Oil and Gas show. We had some 60 British companies there, the largest group we had ever sent to this important show, and the largest international group represented there.
That’s not surprising when you consider the scale of the opportunities in this sector in Australia, with some $85bn of investment planned over the next few years. And British companies, large and small, are well placed to contribute, given the strengths our oil and gas supply industry has built up over the last 40 years. It was particularly fascinating to meet a number of the SMEs on the UK stand and hear about some of their world-beating niche products and services.
Our government’s export promotion agency, UK Trade & Investment, is introducing a new initiative to identify major project opportunities for British business around the world, and support the UK supply chain in addressing them. In Perth, West Australia’s Energy Minister Peter Collier and I launched the first of these, anywhere in the world – the North Australia Gas High Value Opportunity (HVO). For a small subscription, UK companies will have access to a mass of information and the opportunity to participate in events like the briefing seminar we held last Monday. It’s a win win opportunity, with these companies potentially bringing jobs and technology to Australia, as well as contributing to UK exports. So state governments in WA, NT and Queensland, as well as a number of the oil and gas majors, have all expressed a willingness to collaborate in the exercise. Our companies seemed to welcome this initiative and we have already seen a number of them signing up to participate in the HVO programme.
Whilst in Perth, I was also able to see some of the British contributions to the splendid Perth Festival, now under the direction of the energetic British festival director Jonathan Holloway. Along with WA Governor, HE Malcolm McCusker, I attended a fantastic performance of Shakespeare’s Henry V by the Propeller theatre company, and an installation project “Home Sweet Home” at the WA Museum, whose director Alec Coles is yet another Brit.