Scottish Business Briefing - Monday 14 January, 2012 - Business - Scotsman.com The Bank of Scotland's purchasing managers" index (PMI) for December, published today, came in at 51.2, its highest mark since June and up from 50.3 in November (Scotsman). THE North Sea oil industry is set for a jobs boom this year, as record investment on the back of the latest licensing round means up to 50,000 posts will be created. The latest forecast from recruitment website Oilandgaspeople.com says tax breaks and rules allowing firms to look for shale gas will also contribute to the bonanza - but also risks worsening a "serious" shortage of skilled workers (Scotsman). Babcock secures BP's £30m offshore contract The Rosyth dockyard operator Babcock has been awarded a contract worth more than £30m to build new structures for oil fields west of Shetland. Babcock said the BP contract, to build 74 subsea structures for the Schiehallion and Loyal fields, would secure more than 100 jobs. BP said new facilities have to be built to extend production until 2035 (BBC). Intertek seals deal with Maersk INDUSTRIAL safety specialist Intertek's Aberdeen-based energy business has secured a £3 million contract with Maersk Oil UK. Intertek will provide offshore chemists at three of the Danish oil giant's platforms as well as a supporting laboratory team (Herald). Reducing Energy Demand Towards 2020 The Scottish Government is committed to building a renewable energy industry that will meet challenging 2020 carbon emission targets. This Scotsman Conference, in association with Energy Action Scotland, will look at ways that householders, businesses and the public sector can reduce the amount of energy they use, saving money and to helping tackle climate change. It will consider the UK government's Green Deal and will ask whether energy reduction is the key to tackling fuel poverty. The Scotsman Conferences Bellshill-based Wireless Infrastructure Group (WIG) is now backed by Wood Creek Capital Management, a US-based venture capital firm, after it bought out investors including the Royal Bank Of Scotland and Penta Capita (Scotsman). BioCity to take hand in helping its start-ups find funding BIOCITY Scotland, the incubator centre for life sciences firms created in the former Merck drugs factory at Newhouse, Lanarkshire, has unveiled plans to help start-up companies raise funding from business angels and private equity investors (Scotsman).