Tag: Oil

Scottish Oil Wealth Fund – What Could Have Been

17 Sept. 2014. A new economic analysis of a potential Scottish Oil or Sovereign Wealth Fund has found that in 24 years Scotland could earn the same annual revenue from an oil fund as current revenues from North Sea oil and gas tax receipts.

The new economic outlook, undertaken by economists for oilandgaspeople.com, the world’s largest oil and gas jobs board, found that Scotland could have amassed a fund worth between £73.64 billion and £147.28 billion in 24 years, the same time as the Norwegian Oil Fund has been running.

The economic analysis found that the Scottish Oil Fund would bring in an annual income of between £2.9 billion and £5.8 billion per year respectively in today’s prices, the same amount as current estimated tax receipts from North Sea oil and gas revenues.

http://www.oilandgaspeople.com/news/1064/earnings-from-scottish-oil-wealth-fund-worth-same-as-oil-revenues/

This is possibly the most comprehensive review of the potential oil and gas reserves yet to be developed. The West of Scotland will be in for major capital works in the next few years meeting the needs of the Oil companies who will be building new rigs for the Atlantic oil. I hope Scot’s in the West of Scotland are awake. For my part the future does not include handing over the Atlantic oil to Westminster so they can blow the profit on grandiose schemes benefiting London and the South East and the expansionist agendas of MP’s who still view the UK as a major power in the world with a self appointed right to decide upon the fate of nations regardless of outcome.

http://www.scotsindependent.org/features/game_changer.htm

 

 

Ratcliffe Millionaire owner of INEOS

 

 

Remember The Grangemouth Refinery Crisis

The crisis first came to the attention of the Scottish public through a series of press releases exposing gerrymandering by UNITE, who had packed the local election committee, ensuring election of a UNITE member to the status of official parliamentary candidate, (2015 election) for Falkirk West Labour Party.

Extensive inquiry by Labour Party investigators, (sent from England) concluded there was, “no doubt” that United had attempted to manipulate the selection process.

All sorts of shenanigans came to light, involving UNITE and Labour Party members of distinction.

Johan Lamont, leader of the Labour Party in Scotland, preferring to keep her counsel, provided scarce comment, (throughout the scandal), disappointing Labour Party supporters.

 

 

 

Just about the same time it came to light that UNITE had decided upon strike action at the Grangemouth refinery claiming workers were fed up with oppressive management and poor financial rewards.

A period of charge and counter-charge followed, at the end of which management advised the plant would be closed down throwing the entire workforce onto the dole.

 

 

 

Pressure, from a range of interested parties, (excluding Labour) was applied requesting that Alex Salmond, (First Minister) nationalize Grangemouth thereby protecting the workers, saving an important industry.

His response was that whilst he was sympathetic to the cause of the workers, he had no authority to direct the final outcome of the dispute since issues pertaining to energy were reserved to Westminster and there had been no indication of interest, from that place.

But he went on to advise that the Scottish Government had reported the matter to the Scottish Secretary, (Alistair Carmichael) gaining his support, permitting the Scottish government to enter into discussions with management and staff with the purpose of finding a way out of the difficulty.

 

 

 

Alex Salmond, (First Minister) and a team drawn from the Scottish Government worked long hours and many days, with the purpose of achieving a solution to the difficulties, against an movable deadline imposed by management.

And, at the eleventh hour a breakthrough was achieved providing opportunity for change acceptable to management, staff and a reluctant union.

The agreement committed staff to a 3 year, “no strike” period coupled with a reduction in working terms and conditions reflecting the reality of a downturn in the business of the Company.

 

 

 

Johan Lamont and the Labour Party remained strangely silent throughout the confrontation giving credence to views that the Party had, “washed it’s hands of the workers” and the UNITE union at Grangemouth. How sad.

The September referendum provided opportunity for reflection by  Scots employed with companies supporting union representation that, “when the chips were down” the Labour Party in Scotland turned it’s back on the workers leaving them in the lurch, to be rescued by Alec Salmon..

In a final act of betrayal the Unite Union instructed its membership to vote “No” in the referendum.

A kick in the teeth for Scotland and the man who had rescued them from the dole.

 

 

Oil Off The West Coast of Scotland

Waters off the the West Coast of Scotland and deep harbour ports of the Clyde were, (many year’s ago) declared by Westminster to be of immense strategic importance to the MOD and the USA. Following up the MOD announced that the area would provide a permanent base for Trident and nuclear submarines and extensive sheltered training areas for conventional submarines and other naval vessels.

Not long after oil and gas was discovered then developed, in the North Sea providing tremendous financial benefits to the UK, (but not to Scotland).

At around that time, it was projected, by a number of exploratory searches that there were even larger oil and gas deposits, (in place and undeveloped) in abundance off the West coast of Scotland, (confirmed by recent discovery of a substantial oilfield off the coast of Antrim, extending into Scottish waters.

Enter the spoiler, (the MOD) who ensured, (through Westminster intervention) implementation of a permanent bann preventing any exploration and development of oil and/or gas fields off or on-shore in the waters off the entire West coast of Scotland.

The entire matter was subsequently deemed to be, “Top Secret” and, (under the 30 year rule) all information was with-held from the Scottish public. Many supporting documents were subsequently lost or destroyed but information gained by volunteers, through time consuming research of, “Scottish Archives” confirms all of the foregoing to be fact.

It became necessary to address the subject of shipping traffic and ship building on the Clyde, which was noisy and did not provide a best fit for the increasing military presence in the area. It was decided that, Clyde ship building would be primarily confined to MOD contracts drastically reducing the need for a large skilled shipbuilding workforce. Mainline passenger shipping would be reduced, transferring activity to Liverpool.

Westminster, (Thatcher) further decided Scotland should be stripped of all industrial activity, transferring this to England. To facilitate the measure she used Scotland’s oil revenues providing finance sufficient to fund a massive expansion of long term unemployment. In a matter of months Thatcher destroyed Scotland’s industry and sentenced millions to a lifetime on the dole.

Adding insult to agony, (retention and projected further expansion) of defence arrangements by successive UK governments has been the cause of increasing stress within the Scottish population concerned about unreported or understated recurring radiation leaks and scares. This together with the threat of a, “First Strike” which would destroy Glasgow and the entire West Coast of Scotland, and two thirds of the population of Scotland is too horrendous to contemplate, but the possibility needs to be factored into future arrangements for decommissioning of the entire unwanted set-up. The under noted articles are worth reading;

https://www.facebook.com/notes/scotlands-big-yesno-debate/fact-oil-boom-blocked-on-the-firth-of-clyde-by-the-mod-in-the-80s/531769406913923

http://www.sundaypost.com/news-views/scotland/did-mod-block-oil-boom-in-the-firth-of-clyde-1.138569

http://www.sundaypost.com/news-views/scotland/west-coast-oil-boom-was-blocked-by-mod-1.151449

http://www.virtualhunterston.eu.org/proposedrefinery6.htm

In my view the way is clear. Vote, “Yes” in the referendum. Provide support to the first truly independent Scottish Government negotiating removal of nuclear warheads from Scotland. The USA is scheduled to make other arrangements by 2017, following introduction of new nuclear delivery systems and there is no reason nuclear submarines could not continue to use the existing facilities until that time. England would need to decide upon retention of their 2 nuclear submarines.

Without delay the Scottish Government should dismantle the past awarding contracts to companies, allowing exploration and development of previously identified substantial oil and gas reserves off the West coast of Scotland. Very soon after Glasgow will become the base for major oil companies mirroring Aberdeen, which has the lowest unemployment figures in Scotland and where poverty, on the scale brutally imposed on Glasgow and other towns in the West of Scotland has never been the case.

Windfall Tax Scottish Oil

Mr Osborne announced a £2 billion windfall tax, to be levied against oil & gas companies operating in the North Sea, (an increase of about 12%). The policy, which placed at risk thousands of jobs and billions of pounds of investment in the North of Scotland, was first brought forward, in committee by Scottish MP and Chief Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander. Many of Mr Alexander’s, Scottish Liberal Democratic MPs broke with protocol and voiced opposition to it. Ignoring protestation’s, at a formal business dinner, at which he was the invited speaker, attended by a large number of eminent London based business leaders, Mr Alexander triuphantly claimed ownership of the levy stating: “It was my idea, which I first proposed a few months ago.”

Comments Subsequently Attributed to a Number of Mr Alexander’s Scottish Colleagues;

1. Liberal Democrat MP, (Gordon) Malcom Bruce; This extra tax is breaking pledges made to the industry by Mr Osborne and the Liberal Democratic leader, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. Additionally, “Mr Alexander is economically illiterate for coming up with a clearly populist move which could kill off investment in the North Sea”.

2. Liberal Democrat MP, (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) Sir Robert Smith; This tax raid will be “economically disastrous”.

3. Liberal Democrat MP, (Caithness and Sutherland) John Thurso raised concerns at an energy Select Committee, claiming; “Investment in new oilfields to the West of Shetland is now at risk”.

The populace of Aberdeen and the North of Scotland would be well advised to note the views of Mr Alexander’s colleagues who think his grasp of economics borders on the illiterate. The only way to protect the Scottish oil & gas industry is to vote, “yes” to independence.

Sir Ian Wood states, (on video) that there are at least 25 Billion Barrels of, North Sea oil recoverable and he was talking about what could be recovered from the existing discovered fields in the North Sea.

He was not addressing the potential yield from as yet undiscovered, North Sea Fields and recently confirmed large fields of sweet oil, West of Shetland and the massive potential in The Western Approaches, Clyde and Rockall Bank.

It is crucial the negative nonsense spread by the, “Blether Together” campaign is exposed for what it is. More gloom and doom

North Sea Oil – The Future is Bright But only if Scotland Votes For Independence

A recent report by Sir Ian Wood concluded that North Sea oil can deliver a £200 billion injection into the Scottish economy over the next 20 years. The report – described as “the biggest independent review of the North Sea oil and gas industry in its history” – argued that reforms to exploration and production would vastly increase output. An independent Scotland, which mobilized such resources, would be well placed to generate far greater prosperity for people and business. Yesterday the group outlined a plan to use unmanned buoys to produce oil and gas from the North Sea. Supporters state that this will bring more oil fields into production and reduce current costs. In a wider context, there are three key factors which will influence the potential of North Sea oil resources: price, reserves and investment. All three areas suggest vast, untapped economic opportunities.

Price

Oil Projections OBR and others. Current projections from a wide range of organisations are largely upward. The ITEM Club forecast price rises over $130 a barrel; as does the Department for Energy in the UK. NIESR, the Economist Intelligence Unit and the US Energy Information Administration all forecast rises above $110 a barrel. The UK Government’s newly formed OBR – which Alistair Darling accused of being a front for the Conservative Party – is isolated in predicting a price fall.

An outlying figure from the OECD paper, “The Price of Oil” suggests a surge in oil prices towards $190 dollars a barrel due to rising demand for energy, especially in developing nations. Were such a surge to occur, the overall value of North Sea oil would hit an astounding wholesale value of $4.5 trillion.
Reserves

The second crucial issue in the potential of North Sea oil over future decades is the level of reserves. According to the UK Oil & Gas 2013 Economic Report, there are substantial volumes of North Sea oil and gas remaining. Current programs have already identified 11.4 billion barrels. With future exploration, the UK regulator estimates the levels to range between 15-24 billion barrels.

Ministry of Defence blocked oil exploration on the West coast

It recently came to light that the Ministry of Defence blocked a potential oil boom in the Firth of Clydeduring the 1980s. BP undertook seismic surveys south of Arran and east of Kintyre in early 1981. However, the MoD were “very strongly opposed to any drilling” according to a briefing for Scottish Secretary George Younger. Any Firth of Clyde drilling program would potentially have interfered with MoD operations, including the operation of the nuclear weapons submarine fleet at Faslane. Since then, no known investigation of oil reserves on the West coast has taken place. After a Yes vote the removal of nuclear weapons would open up this massive area for oil and gas exploration.
Investment

Current investment in the North Sea is at an all time high. Over £11 billion was invested in 2012, with the figure expected to exceed £13 billion this year. BP, for instance, have made it clear that they aim to continue their investments in North Sea oil business. The new Clair Ridge project involves $4.5 billion with of investment. The Kraken field, off Shetland, is majority-owned by Aberdeen based EnQuest and contains 120 million barrels of oil.

In February Statoil – the Norwegian national firm – confirmed investment of $7 billion in the Mariener oilfield, which was the largest new offshore development in the North Sea in over a decade.

Conclusion

Only two countries within the world’s top oil producing nations failed to establish national oil funds: Iraq under Saddam Hussein and the United Kingdom. As a result one of Scotland’s vital assets was squandered. If Scotland stands on the brink of a new North Sea and West Coast oil boom, will we allow the same mistakes to be made again or will an independent Scotland seize the chance to do things differently?

http://www.directorstalk.com/scotland-on-the-verge-of-a-new-north-sea-oil-boom/

Major Oilfield Development

It is expected that the third phase of the Clair Oilfield, (to the West of Shetland) will be approved very soon, (but an announcement has been deferred by the government in Westminster until after the referendum) The new investment, extracting upwards of 900 million barrels of oil will run into billions of pounds and will sustain activity and jobs in the region for decades to come. http://www.thecourier.co.uk/business/news/bp-leads-330m-clair-field-oil-exploration-project-1.80533