The Times: Oil downturn hits Salmond’s independence spending plans

North Sea oil revenues are set to plunge by more than £1 billion, just when Alex Salmond needs them to rise to boost his chances of winning a “yes” vote in September’s independence referendum.

Research by The Times has unearthed unpublicised Scottish government figures showing that oil and gas production in 2013-14 has fallen in both volume and in value.

Costs, which eat into the oil company revenue on which taxes are levied, have also risen, according to the statistics.
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