In April this year Glasgow Caledonian university joined forced with Houston based FMC Technologies FMC Techologies to enter the lucrative race to extract oil and gas reserves that currently cannot be reached. The multimillion, 5-year project is to raise the recovery proportion of hydrocarbons extracted from the current 35% average and 50% best, while simultaneously  improving producers' monitoring capabilities.

FMC are being supported with £2.5m ( $3.6m) of Regional Selective Assistance through Scottish Enterprise. The company has approximately 12,500 employees across the world and operates in 16 countries.

Enterprise minister Fergus Ewing said the announcement was a "testament to the quality and skills of ourworkforce in engineering and manufacturing. It's also down to hard work by our partners at Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International, who have built up an understanding of this business and provided the most relevant support to help the company grow."

President and CEO of FMC, (left) John Gremp, said: "Our development of technical capability and talent in Scotland is a result of our continuing relationship with the Scottish Government via Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development  Inernational."

Scottish Enterprise CEO (right) Lena Wilson said: "We know there is international demand for technology products for the oil and gas industry.  It's vital that we work hard to ensure we create  conditions for companies like FMC Technologies to succeed in Scotland."