The Scottish Conservatives have said that North Sea oil revenues fell by 75% at the start of this year.
It was revealed near the end of last month that tax receipts received by the Scottish government from January to March totalled £168m, which was £742m less than tax revenue received in the last three months of 2014.
This is hardly surprising considering that the oil industry has seen a lowering in worldwide oil prices across the board since June of 2014, affecting big oil companies like Shell and Mobil, and the prices of products such as Mobil Delvac Super 1400 15W/40.
The Scottish Conservatives have used the drop in Scotland’s oil revenues to claim that it is proof that the SNP was “wildly wrong” in its pre-referendum financial calculations.
Speaking to The BBC, Murdo Fraser, who is finance spokesman for The Scottish Conservatives said:
“The plunge in oil revenues for the first three months of this year is incredible.”
The party has also claimed that the figures demonstrate the argument against financial autonomy for the country – a policy heralded by The SNP.
Last May, the Scottish government released an estimate stating that the Scottish oil revenues would fall in a bracket from £15.8bn to £38.7bn from 2014 -19. However, in its latest bulletin this figure, it has estimated revenues as low as £24bn in 2016/17 to 2019/20.
Recent figures released by the DECC also suggest that this May, Scotland produced the largest amount of oil and gas since 2012.
