North Sea oil and gas 'needing more tax incentives'

Greater tax incentives are needed to help maintain and increase North Sea oil and gas production over the next 30 years, it has been claimed.

The report by Prof Alex Kemp and Linda Stephen of the University of Aberdeen looks at oil price fluctuations.

The study concludes in both cases there is likely to be a substantial decrease in new field investment over the next few years.

However, west of Shetland discoveries could help that situation bounce back.

The report - the Short and Long Term Prospects for Activity in the UK Continental Shelf - adds that there is clear scope for investments in marginal fields if tax relief is introduced.

That is something the smaller oil firms in particular have been calling for.

The oil and gas industry earlier claimed a budget tax rise for North Sea oil production could cost thousands of jobs.