Museum to celebrate 'black gold'

ONE of Scotland's leading museums is to be redeveloped to chart the history of Britain's oil and gas industry, it was revealed yesterday.

The major redevelopment of Aberdeen Maritime Museum's energy exploration galleries is being funded by a number of leading oil firms which have raised the 360,000 required to take the project forward.

Museum bosses are predicting that the new exhibition space could see visitor numbers rise to more than 100,000 a year.

The museum in the city's Shiprow tells the story of Aberdeen's long relationship with the sea, from shipbuilding and whaling to deep-sea fishing and the evolution of North Sea oil.

The museum is already the only venue in Britain where visitors can see special displays on the history of the offshore oil and gas industry. But the new scheme will involve transforming the museum's education suite into a series of exhibition spaces devoted to oil and gas.

Malcolm Webb, the chief executive of Oil & Gas UK, the pan-industry trade body, praised the project. He said: "Aberdeen will now have a museum that properly reflects the fascinating technology and working practices of our oil and gas industry."

Martin Greig, the vice convener of the council's education, culture and sport committee said: "The energy industry has played a central role in the recent economy of the North-east so it is appropriate to be able to enhance the museum collection to record the history of the local oil and gas extraction processes.

"The oil industry has been able to guarantee the UK's financial stability in the last few decades."