You are in denial.....they are, "we" dont own oil and at 60 /65 dollars the tax take will be a hell of a lot less than at higher prices eg 110 dollars a barre,l which blows apart scottish government sums re FFA and tax revenues, killed stone dead . Of course oil has always been a bonus...no oil = no oil jobs so yes your spot on, from that point of view oil is a bonus...and we would have been snookered without it, can you imagine Aberdeen and the east coast from Fraserburgh down to Montrose if there was no oil....
Key facts : see http://www.oilandgasuk.co.uk/employment.cfm- The industry provides employment for around 440,000 people across the whole country:
- The exploration for and extraction of oil and gas from the UKCS accounts for around 340,000 of these, comprising:
- 32,000 directly employed by oil and gas companies and their major contractors
- 207,000 within the wider supply chain
- 100,000 jobs supported by the economic activity induced by employees’ spending.
- In addition, a thriving exports business is estimated to support a further 100,000 jobs.
- Whilst the oil and gas industry provides work across the whole of the UK, Scotland benefits the most with 45% of jobs. 21% are in South East England, 6% in North West England, 5% in West Midlands and 5% in Eastern England.