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8
Willlt Rescue Britain?
by
Peter Butler end Oav1d Pnce
LONDON
T
he waters around Bma•n's nor.lh–
east coast are storm·torn and
treacherous In wtnter. shipptng
15 ravaged by howllng 100m p h gales
and lashed by tower1ng waves. Yet it is
prec1sely tn th1s dosolale sector of the
North Sea that men are fighttng the
elements in search of the o•l which w1ll
geve Britain hope for the future
North Sea 011 1s the catalyst upon
wh•ch alf opt•m•sm that Bntam can pull
through her present desperate
eco–
nom.c stratts 1s
basad
In Wash1ngton
in
January. Pnme M1nrscer Harold WiiSO<I
reflected th1s opttm1sm
when
he fore·
cast that Brrtatn would reaeh self-suffi·
c1ency 10 oil by 1980 • A Bnta1n built
on coal and surrounded by oil will be
mak.ng a m&JOr conwbuuon 10 the solu·
tron of the world 's energy and econom1c
problems."
But rs Britarrl's futuro really that rosy?
Wrll Nonh Sea 011 prove to be the pan–
acea to all the nauon
s
problems?
Living in the Real m of
Fantaay
The North Sea 15 now recognrzed as
ono of che world s most
prohftc
oil-bear–
IOQ
regions. and Britarn' s share of ttre
total reserves comprises at least two
thtrds of che whole By the 1980's. 150
m1llron tons ol orl - worth
s
10.5 bil·
lron - are scheduled to be brought
ashore each year
Yet when comparad wrth total world
reserves. the North Sea oll frelós are
m•n•scule Though the•r •mportance to
Bnta•n
and
Europe
must
nol
be under–
est•mated.
they
fade
1nto
tns•gmficance
when compared wrth the vastly larger
reservesof the Moddle
East.
Nonh Sea oil. moreovor. when it does
begin to flow '" commercial c¡uantities.
wi ll not come cheap North Sea produc–
t•on costs are prov•ng to
be
very htgh tn
comparison wrth those
cll
the Mrddle
East Deep
sea
drrllrng and recovery re·
quires technologtcal and
engineenng
skills lar more soph1strcated than those
needed for extractrng 011 from under·
neath desert sands
Borrowíng from lhe Futura
But for Brita1n. production d1ff1culties
and costs are onfy lhe beginn1ng of the
problems surroundang North
Sea
oiJ.
The
Bnlish
govemment os presently bor·
rowing heavtly overseas to
f1nanoe
ns
massive trade defrcrts on the strength of
the orf reserves Already S1nce March of
last year.
s
7.3 brllron has been bor–
rowed. By 1979 11 rs expected that this
debt wi ll amount to s21 bollion- most
of
it
to pay for mtorim oil imports from
the Middle East. 1t ls no wonder that ttre
government is berng accused of mort-
gagrng the orl revenues before a drop of
crude comes ashore
Economost Potar Oppenheomer warns
that the " orl boom" would croata a
growth reto ol only 1Wl(, rn 1980. and
these f1gures " cannot possibly ¡ustily
borrowong abroad on the prosent scalo
for a perrod of years in order
to
suSta1n
domestoc consumer spendong ... Op
penhe1mer asked the questron " ls the
government hvmg '" the realm of fan–
rasy wrth rcgard 10 North Sea orl?
As
~
to
answer that questron. Ed
mund Stollman. Director of tho Parrs·
based Hudson lnsutute of Europe coro–
mentad
as
far back as May 197
4
" Tho
notron that Nonh
Sea
<MI
will savo Brrtarn 15
perhaps ono 1n a long senes of evas1onsof
reatity usod by th1s country
10
avold con·
frontrng the harsh economic problems of
compot•hon '" the modern world
··
Oil end the Nationalists
But
ef
the
government '"
london
1$
hvrng rn a realm of fantasy. the Scottrsh
Natronalrsts are not To them. North Sea
ort. noarly all of whoch lies off the Soot·
trsh ooastlrne. rs a polrtrcat godsend l t
has becomo the k.ngpm tn their
drtve
for
secessron from the United Kingdom.
The Scottrsh Nationalist Party makes
no bonos about who itbelieves to be the
nghtful owner of the North Sea re·
serves
Accord1ng to the SNP " The
London smash and grab ol Scotland
s
o•l tS caus..ng the max•mum of SOCial and
env~ronmental
damage
whtle
bl'1ngtng
the m•n•mum of eeonomic beneftt.. 10
Scotland The Natronalrsts heve no
doubt that the orl woutd make an rnde·
pendont Scotland a very weallhy natoon
indeed -
9
natton qurte as sjgn•l•cant
lo Europa as. for e•ample. Norway. che
othcr ma¡or North Sea oil beneficrary
What dosturbs polrticians at Westmln·
ster rs a sconarro such as the follow1ng
The Common Marf<et referendum thos
comrng June rs decrded 1n favor ol 8rrt·
a1n stayrng rn The decis<on
IS
partrcu·
larly d1stasteful to nationalrstrc Scots
who ma1nly wosh Britain to leave tho
Market - but therr votes are swamped
by the nlne to one electoral pro–
dominonce of England. In tho heal of
thetr discontent. the Scots elect at the
next general eleC1ion
a
majority of Scot·
tish Nattonal•sts to
their Nallonel
As·
sembly rn Edrnburgh. recently ser up by
london as a conces5AOn to growrng
Scott1sh natronahsm. Relatoons wrth
London deteroorate over oil revenues for
Scotland The Scottish Assembly de·
ciares that rt will no longer abide by
Parllament and unifateratly declares
Scotland' s lndependence. serzes all the
oil ínstallations and imposes
a
bordor
tax
on exports to England.
WEEK ENOIN(; MARCII 22.
197S