THE North Sea oil sector could benefit from new tax breaks if the SNP comes to power in an independent Scotland, the country's energy minister has suggested.
Fergus Ewing hinted at the prospect at the same time as he accused successive Westminster governments of having "squandered" cash from oil revenues over the years by failing to establish an oil fund.
The SNP politician said it was "crystal clear" that if changes to the tax regime were not made, the hunt for oil would move to other parts of the world where extracting it would be cheaper.
He also hit back at former chancellor Alistair Darling's claims that the sector had been successful because it had benefited from a "very stable tax and regulatory regime" under UK governments.
Both Mr Darling, the leader of the pro-UK Better Together campaign, and Mr Ewing were speaking at a business breakfast in Aberdeen organised by industry body Oil and Gas UK.
Mr Ewing said: "What the industry needs is a stable and predictable fiscal regime, and quite clearly that is what the industry hasn't had over past decades."
Mr Darling, however, said the North Sea oil had been "a massive boost to this country for 40 years now". He added: "One of the reasons it has done well is we have had a very stable tax and regulatory regime, the North Sea oil basin, which has allowed firms to look ahead for the future."
If Scotland left the UK he said it would be "very, very dependent" upon oil revenues to fund public spending, but warned that any drop in the amount of cash raised could impact on services.
Mr Darling said: "Last year alone the North Sea oil revenues fell by about £4.5 billion in one year - that's more than we spend on schools, it's getting on for half of what we spend on the NHS in Scotland."
A report published this week estimates Scotland could be sitting on more than double the amount of oil and gas reserves currently predicted. The study, from oil and gas industry jobs board oilandgaspeople.com and independent North Sea experts, suggests the West Coast alone could provide oil and gas for at least 100 years.
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