@JackNayland@JohnWight1 Exactly. That an idea so roundly discredited can be espoused with such confidence is annoying. The argument is always “the economy is just a thing invented by people so we can make it do what we want”. Well a Honda Civic is also invented by people but you can’t make it fly
@Blendello@GentlyDangerous@TBrit90 Yes and no. The Brent crude is extremely high quality so it is worth producing. Using careful field management and nearfield exploration of smaller satellite reservoirs as they do in Norway, you could eek the UK shelf out for a few more decades yet
@AlbertMoon16@tomhfh What an extraordinarily incorrect response. Thatcher was responsible for the only blip of growth Britain experienced between 1960 and 1997. Do you sincerely believe the unionized postwar economy was healthy and conducive to the national interest?
@timetoshine1234@BBCScotlandNews Britain owns the oil in its territorial waters. It leases licences to oil companies to produce it and then charges a 78% production tax. I assume you’re talking about the British national oil company, which was privatized, as it should have been.
@jonburkeUK I mean, Britain does own the oil and gas. It is extracted by private companies under licence and subject to 78% tax on production. The E&P licences are leased, not sold, to private companies, and they are conditional.
@pix3lpro@BBCNews People keep saying this but it isn’t true. She sold the (relatively small) national oil company but did not “sell the oil”. The oil is still owned by the crown and subject to 78% tax on production.
@GPLegen@Chorlton258896@BenGrahamUK I don’t think the British government has any business running an oil company. BNOC was a nightmare. It would just be a huge liability. Oil companies are equipped to handle the risk of E&P, governments not so much.