SCOTTISH Enterprise chief executive Lena Wilson will lead a pioneering trade delegation to Myanmar this week in the hope of identifying opportunities there for firms in the hard pressed oil and gas sector.

Ms Wilson will take four companies on the visit which will be the first ever delegation of Scottish companies to the Asian state, also known as Burma.

With three of the four companies in the delegation drawn from the oil services sector the visit forms part of the official effort to help firms cope with the fall out from the crude price plunge. This has led to a dramatic drop in activity in the North Sea.

The delegation includes Aberdeen-based Wood Group, which has shed more than 2,000 jobs in the UK in response to the resulting downturn.

Scottish Enterprise believes moves by the Myanmar government to open the country to international trade after decades of military rule have created a rare window of opportunity for firms in Scotland.

With the Myanmar government keen to boost the country’s oil and gas industry the knowhow acquired in the NorthSea could be in big demand.

Ms Wilson said Myanmar has huge natural resources. However the local industry will need access to technology, skills and expertise across the exploration and production supply chain, in areas such as seismic surveying and engineering design, project management, health and safety and training and education.

“These are all core strengths of Scotland’s oil and gas industry built up through 50 years of experience of working in the North Sea. We have a real opportunity now to show how Scotland can help support Myanmar to build the capacity it needs while at the same time providing much needed international opportunities for our own industry,” said Ms Wilson.

In January last year UK Trade & Investment said growth in Myanmar’s oil and gas sector grows would create supply chain opportunities for British companies in many different areas.

Ms Wilson noted historic trading links between Scotland and Myanmar. Scottish-owned Burmah Oil Company became the first foreign company to drill for oil in the country in 1886.

However trade flows slowed to a trickle in recent decades. Scotland’s exports to the wider South East Asia totalled just £50m in 2014.

The delegation will include the ASCO oil and gas logistics business and subsea construction specialist Bibby Offshore.

Aggreko, the Glasgow-based mobile power generator specialist, will also go on the visit.

The World Bank recently forecast that Myanmar will achieve growth averaging 8.2 per cent over the medium term highlighting the impact of structural reforms, infrastructure spending and investors’ demand for services.

Ms Wilson and delegation members will move on to Vietnam after visiting Myanmar. Vietnam has a more established oil and gas market, which is still relatively untapped by Scottish companies.

Scottish Enterprise belongs to the Energy Jobs Taskforce established by the Scottish Government in January last year with a brief to ensure partners work across the sector to maintain jobs and to mitigate the potential impact of any losses amid the crude price plunge.

The agency says it is difficult to put a figure on the number of jobs the taskforce has created or safeguarded.

On Tuesday Aberdeen-based cargo unit supplier OEG Offshore said it was buying Singapore-based AOR Containers to help it move into markets including Myanmar.