UK: Government must help oil industry … or lose $1,000,000,000,000 in tax

THE LEADING light of Scotland’s oil and gas sector has issued his strongest warning yet that government intervention is needed to protect the long-term potential of the industry in the face of the worldwide recession.

Sir Ian Wood, chairman of Wood Group, also predicted that failure to act now could undermine the UK economy’s overall recovery when the upturn comes, and could cost the Treasury around $1 trillion (


Speaking to the Sunday Herald, the Aberdeen oil baron who turned his father’s fishing company into a global energy giant, said he was “absolutely confident” about the long-term future of the North Sea industry.

But he believes that action in the short term would help the sector weather the problems created by the precipitous decline from last summer’s oil price. He said: “I don’t think we will see the price go back to $140 per barrel, but it will go back to $70, $80 or $90 from the current $45. We are looking at an uncertain window just now, but our price will recover quite significantly.

“What the UK needs to do is work out how to tackle the short term challenges. What we don’t want to see happen in the short term is a significant downturn which means the loss of people, resources and investment from the North Sea. The worst thing that can happen is that we lose skills and investment and struggle to pick up again on the other side of this.”

Sunday Herald