The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Sturgeon seeks oil tax freeze pledge
The UK Government should pledge not to increase taxes for the oil and gas industry for the next five years, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The first minister issued the demand at this year’s Oil and Gas UK Conference in Aberdeen.
She outlined three changes she believes the UK Government should make to the existing fiscal arrangements for the industry, which has been hit by plummeting oil prices and job losses in recent months.
Ms Sturgeon also called for urgent consultation on incentives to boost exploration in the North Sea and for expansion of the investment allowance to improve production efficiency.
She said: “At this time in the previous Parliament nobody in the industry had any inkling the UK Government might decide to increase the supplementary charge from 20% to 32%.
“Indeed, even on the morning of the announcement, nobody expected it.
“The Scottish Government argued strongly for reversing that increase and also for replacing the current system of field allowances with one unified investment allowance.
“We are pleased the UK Government has introduced both measures – but it now needs to go further.”
Figures show that North Sea exploration last year reached its lowest level in at least two decades, with 14 explorations wells drilled compared to 44 in 2008.