Salmond: Confidence must be restored in oil industry

Efforts must be made to restore investor confidence in the North Sea oil industry, Alex Salmond has said.

Oil contractors could benefit from efforts to restore investor confidence in the North Sea oil industry, Scotland's first minister Alex Salmond has suggested.

He acknowledged that a greater degree of certainty in oil supplies needs to be encouraged, especially in light of this year's increase in the supplementary charge.

The first minister emphasised that implementing the changes without consultation has done great damage to the industry.

"What needs to happen is a new initiative, and I am now calling on the chancellor to establish a procedure for a statutory consultation period of a year before applying changes to oil and gas taxation," Mr Salmond commented.

He urged for the government to consider the wider effects any decision might have on the oil industry, which has the potential to really help out the economy.

It is also possible that hundreds of thousands of jobs could be created if investors were to return to the market, Mr Salmond added.