Oil well?
This is not the view of UK Prime Minister David Cameron. Visiting Aberdeen on 14 October, 2011, for a £4.5 billion Shell Group investment in four giant St Clair Field projects, west of Shetland, he said: “It shows the confidence there is to invest in the North Sea.
“The oil and gas industry is not only important for our energy security, but is a major source of jobs and is vital for future economic growth. There is still massive opportunity in the North Sea.”
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Hide AdOn that same occasion, the press reported Shell’s chief executive as making it clear that there should be plenty of money to be made in UK waters for decades – even at the higher tax rate.
On Shell’s investment, he stated: “We are working on projects that will take production on some of our bigger fields out towards 2050.”
Since then there have been investments of £12bn, £13bn and £14bn annually in the North Sea. Average North Sea workers’ wages are now set to leap from £60,000 a year to more than £70,000, due to rocketing demand for labour.
So what is actually occurring in the North Sea – a depression?
Tom Johnston
Cumbernauld