Ooops that should read EI (Energy Institute) president. My brain, damaged by living through the 60s and 70s, misread the Energy Voice headline today:
‘There’s more to the North Sea than ‘boom and bust’, EI president says’
Anyway, the argument he presents is an interesting one for Scotland’s future economy, after independence. He makes the three points that reduced costs, new technological extraction solutions and digitalisation will enable the industry to break the boom and bust cycle resulting from dramatic sale price fluctuations of the kind we saw in 2016. With regard to digitalisation, he says:
‘There has been a lot of talk around the opportunities digitalisation will unlock. It’s no longer pie in the sky – talking about things we can do 10 years from now. It’s about things which can be done in the next two or three years. It’s about crunching enormous amounts of data to help make better decisions around areas such as maintenance and understanding reservoirs.’
https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/164894/theres-north-sea-boom-bust-ei-president-says/
This adds to the optimism generated by the rising price trend already reported here, multiple times:
20 years till peak demand for Scotland’s oil, time to get our share?
Billions to flow to UK Treasury as Scottish oil prices reach nearly $65 per barrel
Only one piece missing from the set – independence!
Talking-up Scotland 
I seem to remember El Presidente as a pretty good Scottish indy (good word that!) band some while ago. Don’t know what ever happened to them?
Here’s hoping we see an El Presidente of an Indy Scottish Republic before too long. Good news that ‘El Coronnel’ Davidson has more than met her match with Aberdeen’s own ‘General’ Snow (no relation to Dan of Scotland in union fame) – and has decided to pull her own ‘Scottish’ tory conference. Suspect the snow has been a useful ‘excuse’ for Col. Davidson. After all, the troops were readying themselves to declare their undying loyalties to Rees-Moggie, which would have been a tad embarrassing. Ruthie was also going to have to explain to the North East fishing lobby quite how she was going to deliver for them that they could Have Their European Fishcake and Eat It as well (a neat trick that the tories still haven’t quite worked out how to do yet – mainly because it ain’t possible). Let alone the little embarrassments of explaining her Westminster tory government’s lack of any coherent energy policy regarding the Scottish Sector Oil + Gas or sustainable energy industries’ futures. Taken altogether, the Scottish weather has done her a real ‘turn’. (Will we ever get another opportunity for Theresa to ‘reveal’ her Heilan’ Granny do you think? – I was really looking forward to that particular piece of theatre).
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Yes, I remember them but not well. I suspect Theresa’s grannie would not be vote winner.
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Hi John – Theresa invoking her scotch granny might not have garnered many votes (if any?) but I feel it might have been a thing of beauty to watch!
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