A SCOTLAND Office minister has bizarrely suggested oil extracted from a field at the centre of a row over climate change could be left in barrels rather than actually used.

David Duguid, who meets the developers of the controversial Cambo field off Shetland tomorrow, said the “beauty of oil” was that it could be stored instead of consumed.

The UK authorities are currently deciding whether to let the Cambo development go ahead.

Green groups argue giving the go-ahead would undermine the UK’s presidency of the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow in November. 

The oil from Cambo could produce 132m tonnes of carbon if used, the equivalent of running 18-coal fired power stations for a year.

But ahead of talks with Siccar Point Energy, Mr Duguid, the MP for Banff & Buchan, told BBC Radio Scotland that oil taken from the project might never be used.

He said any go-ahead was to “extract” oil and gas, not its consumption and combustion

Asked if the plan was to let it “sit in barrels” not use it, Mr Duguid said: “Well, technically you could. The beauty of oil is you can actually store it - gas is more complicated to store.

“Better to have the oil and gas there and not need it, than to need it then have to import it.”

The SNP said the comment was "bizarre" and showed the Tories were "all at sea on the environment".

Nicola Sturgeon last week urged Boris Johnson to "reassess" potential oil field devdelopments, including Cambo, but stopped short of opposing it herself.

That led to the First Minister being accused of hiding behind the Prime Minister on the issue, given the SNP's fear of unpopularity in the North East over oil jobs.