Scottish Secretary Michael Moore has credited the Press and Journal with helping ensure North Sea oil and gas firms were not hit with a new levy for every worker flown offshore by helicopter.
The Liberal Democrat MP made the remarks after the UK Government confirmed this week that oil and gas industry helicopters would remain exempt from air passenger duty.
Business leaders and politicians reacted with fury in May after the Press and Journal revealed the duty could be levied on flights to North Sea platforms — at a cost of almost £200 for every worker flown offshore.
The shock plan emerged just weeks after the government announced an unexpected £10billion tax raid on oil and gas producers in its Budget in March.
Fears were raised that the proposal would undermine investment and cost the industry an extra £165million annually to fly about 900,000 workers offshore each year.
Last night, Mr Moore said the coalition government at Westminster had listened to the concerns raised.
“In May, the Press and Journal highlighted concerns from the oil and gas sector that helicopters might face air passenger duty,” he said.
“I gave a reassurance at the time that the government was not out to penalise the sector and that we would make sure that didn’t happen when we came forward with our final plans.
“The proposal was aimed at making sure those in private jets didn’t escape air passenger duty.
“The government response shows that we stood by that commitment and have exempted helicopters from the duty.
“Consultations allow issues like this to be highlighted, as the Press and Journal did, and the government can then take steps to make sure the policy achieves the objective we wanted without penalising an important sector of our economy.”
Industry body Oil and Gas UK lobbied the government not to extend the duty to helicopters.
A spokeswoman said: “Oil and Gas UK welcomes the news that helicopters serving the offshore oil and gas industry will be exempt from the government’s extension of air passenger duty.
“Flying by helicopter is the only practical way of transporting workers to and from offshore installations and we believe that, had it been implemented, the duty would have cost the industry around £165million extra per year.
“We are pleased that the government has listened to our argument that introducing this financial burden would have damaged competitiveness and added to the pressures on the economic sustainability of the industry.”