NORTH SEA OIL - SCOTLAND'S BARGAINING TOOL

A SENIOR SOURCE within the oil industry recently divulged that the stricken Elgin Platform, operated by French energy giant Total in the North Sea, released enough gas to power the city of Aberdeen for the next ten years.

     This phenomenal amount is almost incomprehensible, for Aberdeen, Scotland's third largest city, has a population of over 250,000 people.  And in the same vein of other Western cities, the majority of Aberdeen's population consume vast amounts of energy on a regular basis.

     To think that Total's Elgin Platform released such vast quantities of gas in such a short time period - the Elgin Platform leaked gas for just two months - really brings North Sea Oil into perspective.  For decades the people of Scotland have accepted that oil and gas reserves in the North Sea are dwindling, and that they will run out in the not so distant future.  During the 1990s, the closure of the huge oil fabrication yards at Nigg and MacDermots in The Highlands, confirmed to many that North Sea Oil was in an advanced state of decline.  However, the recent accident at the Elgin Platform proves that vast quantities of gas still remain.  In effect this means that far from dwindling, Scotland's oil and gas industry will continue to flourish well into the 21^st century.

Total's Elgin Platform: the recent leak could have powered Aberdeen for 10-years

A recent blogpost questioned whether the financial costs of Scottish Independence would prove viable.  Now that Alex Salmond has launched his Independence campaign the details pertaining to secession from the Union must be closely scrutinised.

     In the current undulating economic environment the small State of Scotland may be buffeted around should we secure Independence.  Even with the vast tracts of oil that are still present in the North Sea, these revenues alone will not guarantee that Scotland will remain buoyant and prosperous.  However, the extensive, untapped oil and gas fields present in the North Sea give the people of Scotland an excellent bargaining tool to ensure we receive the full benefits of Union with England.

     For a number of years politicians South of the border have questioned the viability of the Barnett formula, whereby the people of Scotland receive higher amounts of public subsidies from the UK Parliament per-head of population than their English counterparts.  The Barnett formula was originally conceived as a short-term solution however has been utilised by successive UK governments over the past 30 years.  In light of Scotland's propitious position regarding the oil industry, Pro-Union politicians should attempt to secure the continuation of the Barnett formula in-perpetuity, in order to persuade those Scots who are vacillating over the Independence question to remain firmly within the Union.  For if Britain is to remain a United Kingdom, Scotland's people must be given a tangible reason to want to remain in partnership with England.  Without such a reason Independence will become inevitable, and the consequences will be irrevocable.