IN 2014 I couldn’t pick up a newspaper or switch on the news without seeing Ian Wood gleefully telling anyone that would listen how little oil there was in the North Sea. A committed British Unionist, he astutely managed to second-guess the oil business for years, making him a billionaire.

“Salmond’s wrong on ‘Scotland’s oil’... it’s running out faster than he thinks,” screamed one headline. “The North Sea’s most eminent industry leader comes out against independence and warns rapidly depleting reserves means a separate Scotland could end up importing gas from England,” and so on, you get the message.

After obtaining his knighthood from David Cameron in 2016, he appears to have changed his stance. In February 2017, he said: “Whether there are 10 or 20 billion barrels of oil left, there is still a future in the North Sea. This industry is nowhere near the end of its life. That’s really important.”

Of course he was speaking at the opening of a new oil and gas technology centre in Aberdeen. An idea of his that germinated strangely enough in 2014. You don’t talk down oil when the City of Aberdeen, Aberdeen University and the University of Robert Gordon’s have put up a £180 million investment.

Meanwhile the Oil and Gas Authority said in November 2018: “The UK has enough oil reserves to sustain production for the next 20 years and beyond, according to a new industry report. The Oil and Gas Authority has estimated overall remaining recoverable reserves and resources of up to 20 billion barrels.”

The truth is there has been a string of seriously significant new finds in the North Sea and then there is the Rattray Volcanic Province. Not far from Aberdeen, scientists are getting very excited at the prospect that an area left unexplored could be an enormous oil and gas reservoir. The Energy Voice website says. “Geologists at Aberdeen University revealed last night they have discovered ‘phantom’ volcanoes that cover a ‘huge swathe’ of unexplored North Sea basin.

For decades the 3000-square-mile area was believed to contain the remains of three volcanoes that erupted 165 million years ago. The area, known as the Rattray Volcanic Province, has for years been overlooked by North Sea oil and gas firms. But Aberdeen academics now claim it could potentially yield an eruption of oil and gas reserves. Nick Schofield from the university’s School of Geosciences confirmed that “several” large oil and gas operators had expressed interest in the study, adding that it was time to look at the basin with “fresh eyes”.

An indicator of how much oil exploration is taking place is simple enough to gauge. In a downturn the Cromarty Firth fills up with idle oil rigs, today there are none.

So that brings us back to Sir Ian Wood’s 2014 incorrect assumptions. It is possible of course that he had no knowledge of Total’s impending massive investment west of Shetland, laying a gas pipeline directly to St Fergus or these enormous huge sleeper reserves next to it waiting to be developed, who knows?

Sadly I’m not a billionaire but I knew way back in 2014 the big man was talking nonsense. I don’t suppose we’ll be hearing much from him during the next indyref.

Mike Herd
Highland

WITH regard to the new Scotland manager, how about someone who is already in charge of a national team – 84% win rate and a reputation as a great tactician and motivator. Why not ask Jill Ellis of the USA ladies team if she fancies a crack at the mens’ game?

Marc A Head
Whiting Bay, Isle of Arran