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Untapped oil and gas off Western Isles worth trillions, says report  14/9/14

The seas off the Western Isles could be in line for a new oil boom, according to a new independent industry report.

The report suggested the west coast alone could provide oil and gas for at least 100 years with an estimated value of more than £1 trillion.

Scotland could be sitting on “more than double the amount of oil and gas reserves currently predicted,” said the findings from recruitment specialist, oilandgaspeople.com.

It maintains the scale of Scotland’s untapped frontier West Coast or Atlantic Margin has been underestimated.

Oilandgaspeople.com, the world’s largest oil and gas industry jobs board, and independent North Sea oil and gas industry experts, said the seas off the west coast of Scotland, the Outer Hebrides and Shetland are untapped due to deep waters and difficult geological conditions.

This is despite strong geological evidence for “gigantic or ‘supermassive’ oil reserves.”

The report said there is a “consensus among industry experts and companies that it’s not a case of if, but when oil and gas reserves larger than in the North Sea will be discovered in the Atlantic Margin.”

The investigation included interviews with industry experts and collated seismic and expert evidence from a range of independent sources such as the British Geological Survey, DECC, oil and gas companies, the Institute of Petroleum Engineering and the  Energy Institute.

Some industry experts insist the value of the prediction is overly optimistic.

Oilandgaspeople.com said the ultimate figure depends on the level of investment.

It said that “over the next 10 years upwards of one million barrels a day could be pumped from the Atlantic Margins if more than £1.5 billion is invested to extract it. that oil exploration, discoveries and production off the Hebrides and west coast are set to “dramatically increase over the next ten years as continual improvements in drilling technology, rig design and seismic surveying makes the area more accessible.”

It added: “This activity is supported by the Bank of Scotland’s recent report predicting the need for 37,000 new jobs over the next two years in support of the current Scottish oil boom.  

“As a result, the investigation found that the most recent round of DECC licensing for exploration has seen an increase in oil majors, such as BP, Chevron, Statoil, Total, and Shell, begin prospecting.”

It points to the UK Government’s recent Strategic Environmental Assessment which identified the Rockall Basin, Outer Hebrides Platform and parts of the Hatton Basin and Hatton High as priority for further exploration.