Would new licences save the North Sea oil and gas industry?

The Conservatives fully support continued licences while the SNP say applications should be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Labour has said it will issue no more licences and the Liberal Democrats believe the focus should be on creating more jobs in renewable energy like wind power.

The Scottish Greens would go furthest of all, by rescinding recently issued licences including 54 which were granted in October and January.

Offshore Energies UK estimates that there are now only 60,700 people in Scotland who work directly or indirectly in oil and gas. That number rises to 120,000 across the UK as a whole.

Research by Robert Gordon University (RGU) estimates that in the worst case scenario the number of oil and gas jobs lost in the UK by 2030 could reach 60,000.

It predicts that even on a best case scenario, with new licenses continuing and investment returning, some 33,000 jobs will still go as a result of falling oil and gas production.

So by their estimate, the actual number of jobs “at risk” is 27,000 across the whole UK, not just Scotland.