WSJ: Scotland Minister Tries to Sway Oil Firms Before Independence Vote

British oil and gas reserves off Scottish shores in the North Sea have become a flash point in Scotland's debate over independence.

"Our policy has been primarily designed by industry," Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said recently, promising oil companies that energy policy wouldn't change in an independent Scotland.

The industry has been skeptical, however. Executives at BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, both of which have multibillion-dollar developments off Scotland's Shetland Islands, have said they would prefer that the country remain within the U.K. The companies said independence wouldn't affect current investment plans.

Scotland votes Sept. 18 on whether to split from the U.K. Recent polling suggests that Scots are likely to vote against independence. But those polls also show that a large swath of the country's four million voters remain undecided.
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