LONDON, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- London and Edinburgh on Monday set conflicting agendas for the future of North Sea oil and gas in order to get more supporters for their respective energy development plans.
British Prime Minster David Cameron and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond chaired cabinet meetings separately in northeast Scotland, seeking to clarify their own plans for maximizing the value of the North Sea resources before the coming landmark Scottish independence referendum in September.
"For many years Britain has supported the North Sea oil and gas industry and we have worked together to make this an economic success the whole country can be proud of," Cameron said, adding that the British government is more capable of managing the North Sea resources.
"Britain is well placed to absorb the shocks of oil price volatility that would dramatically affect a small country's budget. Scotland benefits as part of Britain from being able to pool resources," a statement from Cameron's office said.
According to the statement, Britain's tax revenues from the oil and gas industry in 2012-13 reached 4.7 billion pounds (about 7.8 billion U.S. dollars), lower than the year before, a drop of over 40 percent.
"I promise we will continue to use Britain's broad shoulders to invest in this vital industry so we can attract businesses, create jobs, develop new skills in our young people and ensure we can compete in the global race," Cameron said.
However, Salmond slammed Cameron's arguments, saying that the British government had failed to secure the stability of the oil and gas industry in Scotland over the years.
"All we have had from Westminster over the past 40 years is a change of oil minister every single year and a regular change in taxation regime, which has delayed some of the huge investments we are now seeing taking place in the waters around Scotland," Salmond was quoted in a BBC report as saying.
Describing the British control over the North Sea resources as "dismal," Salmond vowed to learn from the experience of Norway, another beneficiary of North Sea oil and gas.
Norway has successfully built up a sovereign wealth fund for its people from oil profits since 1990, which is estimated to exceed 810 billion dollars at present.
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