A north-east MSP has urged the Scottish Government to “bury the hatchet” with UK ministers and work together for the good of the North Sea oil industry.
Conservative Alex Johnstone said Brent crude oil was trading at under $83 a barrel, a four year low, and there had been a 20% drop in prices since the independence referendum on September 18.
Speaking at first minister’s questions yesterday, the MSP claimed the SNP leader put oil at the centre of the government’s campaign.
Mr Johnstone said: “Given that the case was decisively rejected by the north-east Scotland, where the industry is based, will he now accept that and bury the hatchet with the UK Government?
“Will he work to ensure that the oil service industry has the best of support north and south of the border to weather the storm and return to a successful future?”
Alex Salmond, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, claimed much of the recent decline in oil prices was driven by a reaction to a temporary oversupply in the market as the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) “tries to force out the production of US shale oil”.
He added that Mr Johnstone’s comments were befitting of a party that enjoyed just 8% public support.
Mr Salmond said its popularity was likely due to suggestions that having massive quantities of oil and gas was a “curse and an irredeemable burden”.
“What other people look at is the announcement of new discoveries in the North Sea, such as the Xcite Energy discovery of the Bentley field, with 300 million barrels,” he added.
“Not to mention today’s report in the Press and Journal which indicates that the latest drilling in Clair ridge is showing extraordinary oil-well flows.
“People will conclude from that the size of the resource in the North Sea and in the waters around Scotland will outlast the Scottish Conservative Party by many decades, and will power Scotland in times to come.”
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