Alex Salmond says £200m North Sea levies should return north

Published on Thursday 18 February 2010 21:53

FIRST Minister Alex Salmond yesterday called for an estimated £200 million in levies from the North Sea oil and gas industry, being held in Westminster, to be released to help create up to 20,000 jobs.

His call was made as Mr Salmond visited Green Ocean Energy, a renewables company specialising in developing wave technologies in Aberdeen.

Mr Salmond claimed that Scotland's share of the Fossil Fuel Levy – paid by energy producers using non-renewable sources – had been worth 68m when the SNP government took office in May 2007. It now stood at 200m and was "languishing" in a Treasury bank account.

The First Minster claimed that, by releasing the money, Scotland could embark on the programme of infrastructure upgrades recommended in the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan.

He said: "Scotland won the natural lottery once with North Sea oil and we now have the potential to lead the world again with renewables.

"Aberdeen has a wealth of knowledge. That expertise is now being deployed as we work to make Scotland the clean, green energy hub of Europe."