First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the early work of a new body designed to bring security to the oil and gas industry had been “very, very worthwhile”.
Ms Sturgeon spoke out after receiving an update on the oil and gas taskforce, which was set up to represent business leaders and unions amid plummeting oil prices and rising job insecurity.
Following talks with taskforce chairwoman Lena Wilson at a meeting of the Energy Advisory Board, she said: “There was a very positive progress report about the work of the taskforce.
“The industry and the unions are represented and the early indications are that it is very, very worthwhile.”
The taskforce has met once, with the next gathering planned for February 26.
Meanwhile, the First Minister called on the UK government to follow Norway’s example and introduce exploration tax credits to help the North Sea oil and gas industry pull out of its current slump.
In December, Chancellor George Osborne vowed to lower the supplementary charge levied on North Sea energy companies from 32% to 30%, and a month later said he would announce further tax breaks in his March budget statement.
The Scottish Government also wants a headline rate of North Sea tax and the introduction of an investment allowance, as well as the exploration support measures employed by Oslo a decade ago.
“We only have to look at the situation in Norway in 2005 to see that simple steps can be taken to restore a decline in exploration, Ms Sturgeon said.
“In the course of three years, the introduction of the exploration tax credit saw the number of exploration wells increase an incredible fourfold.”
“Fiscal measures to incentivise exploration, coupled with the appropriate regulatory expertise, have the potential to drive forward a resurgence in exploration in the North Sea.”
