Oil is the main item on Salmond’s agenda

ALEX Salmond is expected to put the control of huge multi-million-pound North Sea oil revenues back at the heart of the independence debate this week as he prepares to push forward Scotland’s case for ownership at the SNP’s annual conference.

The move to create a political dimension around the flow of “Scotland’s Oil” follows the announcement by BP last week of a £4.5 billion plan to develop the huge Clair oil field – which has a predicted a 40-year lifespan – off the west coast of Shetland.

SNP sources claim the move has put the issue of oil “back on the agenda” of the independence debate at a time when the party is planning to arm conference delegates with new tactics on how to win more public backing for splitting from the UK.

The campaign is likely to revive memories of the famous “It’s Scotland’s Oil” campaign from the 1970s, which saw the party gain support at Westminster. North Sea oil has already provided more than £300bn in tax revenues to UK governments, with the Treasury due to land a record £13.4bn this year alone.

But opponents, including UK ministers, last night warned that a campaign based on “Scotland’s Oil” was “myopic” and failed to take account the huge swings in revenue that Scotland would be exposed to as a result of oil’s volatile price.

The SNP conference in Inverness, which starts on Thursday, is the first gathering of the party faithful since the historic victory in the Scottish elections in May that secured plans for a referendum on independence.

A source close to the First Minister said last night: “The size of the BP investment has put the scale of Scotland’s energy wealth firmly back on the agenda in the run-up to the referendum, and there is no doubt that this will a big theme in Inverness.”

The party leadership is expected to drum home the message that while the peak year of oil flow from UK waters has been passed, over half of the revenues are still to be generated amid predictions that the oil price will remain high.

Over the next five years, the oil fields are expected to raise 35 per cent more in revenues than during the past five years.

With the party having already begun preparations for the referendum, its campaign chief, Angus Robertson, will use the conference to set out targets to party delegates for attracting supporters to independence ahead of the referendum.

However, SNP ministers are facing continuing pressure from the UK government to set out the detail of the referendum plans.