At the beginning of this month, I visited the Offshore Europe Conference in Aberdeen, an event attracting almost 30,000 visitors and more than 500 exhibitors.

It’s a broad event encompassing the full spectrum of offshore energy technologies, reflecting the reality of our current reliance on energy from oil and gas whilst also evolving to include renewables like offshore wind, green hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage (CCS).

That balance leaves it well-placed as a barometer for progress of the much-talked-about energy transition, and for me the highlight was the companies – and their people – that were bristling with energy and innovation. In contrast at times the words presented in conference and presentation seemed less enthusiastic, and quite tactical where it might have been expected that they matched the strategy and ambition displayed on the conference floor.

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An interesting talking point both in and after the conference was the reference by Scotland’s Deputy First Minister that energy transition need not be a binary choice where the options are either: simply extract every last drop of oil and gas, or; immediately flip a switch to a

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