Economy still affected by oil and gas struggles, reports find
Difficulties in the oil and gas industry are continuing to take their toll on Scotland’s economy, two new reports have indicated.
economy
Russian economy suffers worst year since global financial crisis
Russia’s economy shrank 3.7% in 2015, the worst drop since the depths of the global financial crisis, as the country struggled with a drop in the price of its oil exports and international sanctions, the state statistics service said.
Oil price fall dents Scotland’s economic growth
The Scottish economy slowed in the final quarter of 2015 with confidence in international markets and a drop in the oil industry constraining growth, according to economic researchers.
Russian Economy Ministry opposes higher oil tax to defend output
Russia’s Economy Ministry criticized a proposed tax increase on the nation’s main revenue source, crude producers, saying it may hurt output and the budget in the long term. The oil-extraction tax formula proposed by the Finance Ministry last week would hurt “the economics of working deposits and in fact would ’kill’ production at the most efficient fields in terms of tax performance,” Deputy Economy Minister Nikolay Podguzov said. “Clearly, if production decreases, taxes also fall.”
Oil and gas helps accelerate UK growth
Improved North Sea oil and gas production helped the UK economy grow in the three months to July, but the strength of the pound remained a drag on exporters, according to a survey.
Exxon’s Guyana oil discovery may be 12 times larger than economy
An Exxon Mobil Corp. discovery in the Atlantic Ocean off Guyana may hold oil and natural gas riches 12 times more valuable than the nation’s entire economic output. The Liza-1 well, which probably holds the equivalent of more than 700 million barrels of oil, may begin producing crude by the end of the decade, Raphael Trotman, the South American country’s minister of governance, said in an interview. The prospect would be on par with a recent Exxon find at the Hadrian formation in the Gulf of Mexico, and would be worth about $40 billion at today’s international crude price.
IMF sees average oil price of $59 per barrel in 2015
A report from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) has found oil prices have rebounded more than expected, after falling by more than half a year ago. The findings were revealed in the latest World Economic Outlook which said the rise in the price of oil reflected higher demand and expectations that oil production growth in the US would slow faster than previously forecast. It predicted the average price of oil to be $59 per barrel over the year.
Oil price drop hits Scotland’s jobs outlook
The drop in crude prices has bumped Scotland's employment outlook down to its lowest level in two years, according to a new survey from recruitment agency Manpower. At minus 1%, Scotland is the only part of the UK with a negative outlook going into the second quarter.