Letter: Oil and gas assets

I was rather intrigued to note Bill Jamieson's rather pessimistic outlook on projected future revenues from North Sea oil and gas (Perspective, 16 June).

By The Newsroom

Published 17th Jun 2011, 18:18 BST

Updated 17th Jun 2011, 23:39 BST

Oil and gas have provided more than 300 billion worth of tax revenue to the UK government, with the Treasury due to secure around 13.4bn this year. With some 30 to 40 per cent of oil and gas reserves still to be extracted, it is estimated there is still between 800bn and 1.2 trillion worth of resources to be extracted from the North Sea over the next 30 years.

This is an incredible asset that few newly independent states would grumble about.

Alex Orr

Leamington Terrace

Edinburgh

North Sea