Why we have to keep on making most of Scotland’s oil and gas

THE First Minister was right to launch his “It’s Scotland’s Energy” campaign last week. Our country has been blessed with two energy bounties and so far has seen little of the wealth which should follow from either.

But while John Swinney was vocal on the opportunities afforded by renewable sources, he was reticent on where he stood on further exploration and development of oil and gas.

Of course, he rightly criticised Keir Starmer and the UK Government for the devastation which they are unleashing through the Energy Profit Levy (EPL). Taxation is one thing, imposing a cripplingly high level which is seeing a total abandonment of the sector is quite another. But just where do the SNP stand on further oil and gas exploration and development?

The minor tinkering offered by UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband goes nowhere near far enough to sustain the sector or offset the abandonment of it by so many businesses due to the punishing taxation. Yet no mention was made of that vital issue by the First Minister.

Moreover, while energy is largely reserved offshore oil and gas licensing is reserved, onshore oil and gas licensing is devolved. The Scottish Government has a Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy, whose portfolio includes oil and gas. As the MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Gillian Martin will know the desperation felt by the sector and all those working in it.

Yet while Swinney has been silent, his Cabinet colleague has been well-nigh invisible on this issue. The SNP’s energy spokesperson at Westminster, Graham Leadbitter MP, last week backed a letter from Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce calling for the windfall tax to end.

But just where does Swinney’s Government stand on the crucial issue of whether we continue to seek the benefits of our first energy bounty?

Nicola Sturgeon’s administration brought in a presumption against further development – such as fracking – which was maintained by Humza Yousaf. Just a few weeks ago, Sturgeon, speaking in Holyrood during a private members business debate called for a “formalisation of the presumption”.

While that wouldn’t immediately turn off the taps, when added to the current crippling tax, it would all but kill off the sector, wreaking havoc on workers and communities in the north-east and across Scotland.

Not only that, as Swinney acknowledged in his speech, the skills and the resource from the oil and gas sector are vital for the new renewable industries.

As he also correctly explained in his speech, it is required to access the turbines onshore or offshore, as well as for the manufacture of plastics and other vital parts of renewable technology.

It would be hard to have any transition without them, let alone a just transition. But the North Sea oil and gas sector is haemorrhaging businesses and jobs, as both trade unions and industry organisations confirm. So, is Scotland going to continue to benefit from that first bounty it was bequeathed?

There's plenty oil left under the sea despite what Scots have been told. The insistence at the referendum that it was all but gone has been disproved by geologists and further discoveries.

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) reckon that there are billions of barrels still to be extracted, with Wood Mackenzie, the sector analysts, estimating that the figure could be as high as 14 billion.

Leaving it under the sea won’t see a reduction in our use of oil and gas. That will continue, as Swinney acknowledged in his speech, because it is needed for the renewable sector, never mind that we can’t simply change our economy and society overnight.

It’s going to mean decades of continued fossil fuel use, even with steps taken to transition and reduce use and requirement. Can it really be the position of the Scottish Government for Scotland not to benefit from its own resource?

That would mean paying top dollar for imported fuel. It would mean damaging our economy, with jobs and businesses lost. It would also mean increased harm to our environment shipping it in from across the seas in supertankers spewing out emissions.

Finally, in the ever-increasingly dangerous world in which we live, access to oil and its price could be badly affected by conflicts far from our shores. That’s why it is essential that Scotland continues to use, develop and explore its North Sea oil and gas sector.

It was the clarion call of “It’s Scotland’s Oil” which drove the movement forward in the early 1970s, letting Scots know the benefits that should be their birthright.

Haunting posters saying “It’s His Oil” and “It’s Her Oil” showed ordinary Scots, young and old, whose lives should have been transformed by the fuels discovery.

Across the North Sea, Norway, a country historically far poorer and less industrialised than Scotland, has a trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund benefitting current and future generations. Meanwhile in Scotland, those portrayed in the campaign posters missed out.

Swinney is right that “It’s Scotland’s Energy” but it’s still the case that “It’s Scotland’s Oil”. If we don’t use it, then we will continue to lose our industrial base. Our people are entitled to benefit from this bounty now as they were 50 years ago, and just as they must from the new bounty of renewables.

Use it or lose it: the Scottish Government must come off the fence and back Scottish oil and gas.

[This was first published in The National on 15.12.25]