North Sea oil revenue report ‘stark reading’

Billions of pounds have been wiped off the value of future North Sea oil revenues in the latest forecasts, prompting warnings about the “danger” of relying on them to support the economy of an independent Scotland.

The forecasts in the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) report predicts revenues of £11.1 billion this year, down from £13.4bn in the March forecast. The revenues will continue falling until 2015/16 when they will hit £7.2bn.

Scotland Office minister David Mundell said: “These OBR figures make stark reading and the downgraded forecast for oil revenue again shows the danger of building an economy on a volatile commodity.”

A spokesman for finance secretary John Swinney insisted the Scottish Government’s figures show that Scotland is regularly in a stronger financial position than the UK as a whole. He added that the OBR figures show that North Sea revenues this year, 2011/12, will be nearly double the level they were 2009/10.