By Campbell Keir, Deputy Director, Energy and Infrastructure, DIT

The UK is the global partner of choice in the oil & gas industry, exporting goods, services, skills and expertise around the world. The Department for International Trade (DIT) is the UK Government department responsible for promoting British trade across the world.

We support UK-based businesses to succeed in international markets and encourage overseas companies to make use of UK expertise. Our experienced officials and business specialists operate across 109 international markets and nine UK regions. With strong links into major government and industry bodies in the UK and overseas, DIT is well positioned to help all sized businesses succeed as investors or exporters.

How do we help UK companies?

Our recently launched Export Strategy is designed to help UK exports rise from 30% to 35% of GDP. Within that framework DIT is committed to helping UK oil and gas supply chain companies achieve the ‘MER UK’ supply chain strategy target - to double the UK supply chain global market share by 2035 (from 3.7% to 7.4%). To help this become a reality the DIT oil & gas team leads a successful programme to help UK companies win business in countries such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Senegal and Mauritania, East Africa, India, Brazil, Mexico, Oman, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

We track global demand to inform our focus and appraise new opportunities, targeting markets with scale & fit to UK capability/capacity, and where HMG can help businesses most. This includes support from UK Export Finance, the UK’s export credit agency, who offer £3 billion export finance help for exporters, and attractive, long-term financing for project sponsors sourcing from the UK, plus a range of flexible project financing products.help for exporters and attractive, long-term financing for project sponsors sourcing from the UK, and a range of flexible project financing products.

Within the Energy sector, the department also focusses on renewables and nuclear. Our Renewable Energy team promotes a range of renewable energy generation technologies; focusing on offshore wind, waste to energy, heat networks, electrical networks and energy storage, delivered across 8 investment campaigns; 4 trade campaigns and a number of scoping and development projects.

The UK was the first country to open a commercial nuclear power station in 1956 and we offer world-leading technical, engineering, products and services expertise to projects across the nuclear lifecycle. Civil Nuclear centres of excellence around the UK have international reach, making vital contributions to projects including decommissioning at Fukushima and the experimental fusion reactors at ITER.

The industry contributes over £6bn to the UK economy every year. Success in Civil Nuclear depends on long-term, strategic relationships with governments and industries overseas. The team is focussed on 7 overseas geographies, with a comprehensive programme of activity.

How can business's access DIT's suport?

There is a world of opportunity out there and DIT is keen to help you start or continue your journey. You can find out more about the full range of our services at www.great.gov.uk. This has tailored support and advice on how to start exporting or increase your share of exports.

You can contact trade specialists in your region who can help you commission services including country and sector advice, bespoke research, support for overseas visits and much more. For specific information on our oil and gas activities contact: michele.sealy@trade.gov.uk

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