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Scotland's Oil


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We can't have a separate forum on the referendum without discussing oil. Many of us including myself work in the oil industry. It's a massive topic in the debate.

According to Dr Alex Kemp -

If Scotland were to get a "geographical share" based on the median line it would mean about 90% of the UK's oil resources would be under Scottish jurisdiction.

According to research by Prof Kemp, in 2010 the Scottish share of total oil production in the UKCS was more than 95% while for gas it was 58%. The Scottish share of total hydrocarbon production (including NGLs) was 80%. The Scottish tax share exceeded 90%. This reflects the much higher value of oil compared to gas.

How do people see this panning out should we vote YES?

It's clearly a massive benefit along with our other mineral deposits. I'd like to think we'd use it better than the UK Treasury has.

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Scotland is a country with a border that would used to establish a maritime boundary under International Law. Aberdeen isn't. Obviously.

Yes, but if you're using the face that the majority of the North sea oil would belong to an independent Scotland, you can use the same argument for an independent Aberdeen.

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Yes, but if you're using the face that the majority of the North sea oil would belong to an independent Scotland, you can use the same argument for an independent Aberdeen.

Does Aberdeen have it's own education system, law, sense of national identity? No.

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Yes, but if you're using the face that the majority of the North sea oil would belong to an independent Scotland, you can use the same argument for an independent Aberdeen.

No you couldn't and this moronic argument is crushed every single time, just like the Lib Dems' "independence for Shetland" caper. Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire have been a part of what is today the nation of Scotland for centuries. At no point has Aberdeen ever exercised a move towards sovereignty.

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Does Aberdeen have it's own education system, law, sense of national identity? No.

No you couldn't and this moronic argument is crushed every single time, just like the Lib Dems' "independence for Shetland" caper. Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire have been a part of what is today the nation of Scotland for centuries. At no point has Aberdeen ever exercised a move towards sovereignty.

If you're basing the argument on oil then it's just as reasonable to want independence for Aberdeen

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No doubt answered in many other places bit ill ask anyway. If the yes vote were to be successful:

1. How long is the oil to last, I assume it will at some point. Will it run out in 50 years, 100 years, 500 years etc?

2. What happens when it does?

3. How big a blow would the loss of oil be to the rest of the uk?

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If you're basing the argument on oil then it's just as reasonable to want independence for Aberdeen

And if Aberdeen's border (doesn't actually exist but let's pretend) was extended to form a maritime boundary it would be absolutely tiny.

Nobody even bothers with this argument anymore. Give up.

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And if Aberdeen's border (doesn't actually exist but let's pretend) was extended to form a maritime boundary it would be absolutely tiny.

Nobody even bothers with this argument anymore. Give up.

Council borders no less exist than the Scotland England border. They're quite clearly defined in statute.

The point has more force if, for instance, the North East Parliamentary region sought to secede, or if Shetland and Orkney tried to do it, because of the kind of principles that people on the Yes side like to rely on for maritime boundaries in customary international law. In those cases, the maritime division would be far from insignificant.

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Does Aberdeen have it's own education system, law, sense of national identity? No.

Why is sense of national identity relevant, Enigma? Why does it matter to you?

Also, Aberdeen does have its own education system (to a point). All local authorities do. They have an education committee that plans the distribution and provision for schools in the Aberdeen City area. They determine and oversee local-authority-wide initiatives, from whether milk is given to P1s to supplementary decisions over and above the national curriculum.

It also has its own law (have you never heard of by-laws, planning laws and so forth?). And its own territorially assigned Sheriff Court.

I honestly don't understand why people think having a separate jurisdiction or system of law, or a different way of running your education system is even in the slightest bit relevant to whether or not you should be a sovereign state rather than a domestically self-governing entity, part of another sovereign state.

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No doubt answered in many other places bit ill ask anyway. If the yes vote were to be successful:

1. How long is the oil to last, I assume it will at some point. Will it run out in 50 years, 100 years, 500 years etc?

2. What happens when it does?

3. How big a blow would the loss of oil be to the rest of the uk?

I think this is dead as a better together argument, even if it only lasts 50-odd years, which is pretty likely, that is still 50 years in which to build up our national resources, and develop renewables which would not only shoulder the economic blow of losing the oil, but the blow to society.

I would like Scotland to remain under London rule, but I think using the fact that the oil is finite as a BT argument, is dead.

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No doubt answered in many other places bit ill ask anyway. If the yes vote were to be successful:

1. How long is the oil to last, I assume it will at some point. Will it run out in 50 years, 100 years, 500 years etc?

2. What happens when it does?

3. How big a blow would the loss of oil be to the rest of the uk?

1. Estimates vary from 20 years up to 60 depending on who you ask and their agenda.

2. Depends how we use the oil money from now to then. Norway started an oil fund 30 years ago which is now worth $400B, they only use 4% of the interest to put towards their public services.

3. About £40B a year.

That is just for North Sea Oil, there is meant to be significant oil discovered off West Coast of Shetland and the Ayrshire coast.

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We're looking at minimum of forty years of extraction left, but up to as much as a hundred. No one in their right mind is saying twenty years anymore.

http://www.businessforscotland.co.uk/the-truth-about-scotlands-oil/

However the importance of Scotland's O&G industry is much more than just a barrel count. It's a very diverse and prosperous industry that encompasses much more than North Sea field extraction.

It's difficult to underestimate just how vital it would be to an independent Scotland and how much it could help us achieve our potential.

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