US/NATO War on Russia

[Paul Rigby]

With no public debate permitted on the catastrophic course being charted for the UK by the geopolitical genii at the FO and the Charlatans (MI6), we are left to our own devices to establish the cost for us of the monstrosity that is the CIA's operation in Ukraine, and attendant attempts to weaken the Russian economy. Here is classic, and utterly predictable, example of the latter, a direct consequence of the US-Saudi deal on oil prices:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/markets...unges.html

Taxpayer facing £20bn bill to decommission oil rigs as plunging crude prices threaten future of North Sea operations

Brent crude fell to below $72 a barrel, dropping 10 per cent in a week

Half of cost of closing down oil wells met by the state

By JON REES, FINANCIAL MAIL ON SUNDAY
PUBLISHED: 21:35, 29 November 2014 | UPDATED: 09:48, 30 November 2014

Brent crude fell to below $72 (£46) a barrel, dropping 10 per cent in a week. It is down almost 40 per cent since it hit $115 in June.

Oil & Gas UK wants the £2billion a year tax hike on the industry imposed in 2011 a 12 percentage point increase levied by Chancellor George Osborne to be reversed.

Tholen said: We need to see massive changes in the tax rates. In 2013 we spent every pound we earned in investing, running and exploring for oil. This year we will be spending £3billion more than we are earning to do the same thing.

We cannot sustain this business for too much longer without things changing radically. At $70 a barrel, decommissioning oil fields moves centre stage for many companies.'

The North Sea attracted a record £14billion of investment last year, but Oil & Gas UK believes that will halve over the next four years.

The Chancellor is expected to outline the results of a Treasury review into the tax regime of the North Sea oil industry in Wednesday's Autumn Statement