The UK oil and gas industry will maintain strong investment in the provision of safety training no matter how deep the recession cuts, a Scottish energy committee has heard.

Representatives from ConocoPhillips, Halliburton, Oil and Gas UK, Opito and Scottish Enterprise Grampian made this pledge during an investigation into the future of the Scottish energy industry.

The Press and Journal reports that Mike Bowyer, director of Halliburton, told the committee that the oil and gas industry would not repeat the mistakes of previous recessions, where training cutbacks led to an acute skills shortfall as the economy got back on its feet.

"There is a concern that we are going into a severe downturn and coming out of that downturn we have to be careful we don't lose many of these scarce skills," he said.

Furthering this, Opito has recently opened a new leading-edge training hub in Aberdeen which will aim to establish Scotland as a world leader in the provision of training for the oil and gas industry.

Oil and Gas Directory: Training and Development