Scotland Would Have Problems Tapping North Sea Resources, Says UK Report

The United Kingdom could deeply benefit from the UK Continental Shelf's oil and gas recovery maximisation, with a ‘£200 billion boost over the next 20 years’, reads a report commissioned by the government to Sir Ian Wood. 

The review suggests that United Kingdom would be the ‘strongest basis to unlock the investment needed to achieve the objective,’ while Scotland could face high hurdles to efficiently tap the resources.

The study is likely to be used in the next month to convince Scottish people to vote against independence. It comes as no surprise that Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey spoke about it during his visit in Aberdeen, where he signed a deal with Shell to develop the next stage of a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project.

‘The fiscal regime introduced by the government will lead to greater investment in the North Sea - the decommissioning relief certainty, introduced in October 2013, alone is worth upwards of £20 billion. An independent Scotland would have to commit around £3,800 per head – over ten times more than when costs are spread across the UK – to match this,’ reads the note released on Monday.

The report suggests that oil and gas production can be increased by one third, reversing the 40% decline occurred in the last 3 years.

“The UK Government already supports Scottish energy projects worth hundreds of millions of pounds each year, and our large tax and consumer base will ensure that the potential £200 billion benefit Sir Ian Wood has identified can be realised,’ commented Davey.