Exhibition Launch
Following the afternoon event, the Frigg: Gas from the North Sea exhibition celebrating the completion of the documentation project was formally opened in Marischal Museum by David Mendelson, Business Development Director of TOTAL E&P UK and Professor Christopher Gane, Vice Principal of the University of Aberdeen.
The exhibition was created by specialist staff from the University's museums and archives in conjunction with TOTAL E&P UK Ltd. It draws on a variety of material, tying in with similar work at the Norwegian Petroleum Museum in Stavanger. The Frigg UK collection held at the University contains over 1,500 individual items, including engineering drawings, technical manuals, operational records, staff magazines, photographs, and film and video footage.
Commenting on the importance of the Frigg UK documentation project, David Mendelson said:
"In the seventies, the Frigg development represented a ground-breaking project, requiring great feats of engineering and political imagination to develop this remote, cross-border gas accumulation. TOTAL and all the people who have worked on the field are extremely proud of those achievements and are glad of this opportunity to preserve so many technical and personal records in the new Oil and Gas Archives at Aberdeen University. These records will provide a great resource for education and the general public to understand the initial phases of the development of the North Sea oil and gas industry.
"As one of the leading operators in the North Sea and with many more years in front of us in ever more challenging environments, TOTAL considers this opportunity to capture the experiences of the past as an important aspect of our business."
Professor Christopher Gane said:
"We have very much enjoyed working with Total and the other partners on this fascinating exhibition, which we hope will be of interest not only to the industry but to the wider public, especially here in the North-east.
"This project is especially significant in the way it brings together the skills of our dedicated team of curators with a major offshore operator, and a commitment to preserve, for future generations, information about an industry which shaped not only our local and national economy but also the cultural development of the communities of the east coast of Scotland."
Speaking on behalf of Historic Scotland, Dr Miles Oglethorpe said:
"The completion of the Frigg documentation project is a great step forward, and gives us an inspiring window onto an extraordinary industry, the achievements of which have not in the past been adequately understood or properly recognised."
The exhibition will run at Marischal Museum from 14 March until 27 June. A virtual version will be permanently online at www.abdn.ac.uk/historic/friggexhibition.
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