Sir Ian Wood has accused the UK and Scottish governments of pursuing “economically damaging” policies that are harming the energy sector.
The businessman and philanthropist warned that Westminster’s energy profits levy and Holyrood’s presumption against new oil and gas licences would hinder investment in the North-east at a time when it is badly needed.
The 80-year-old also said he was “hugely disappointed” a green freeport for the region has not been selected.
It was confirmed on Friday that rival bids from the Cromarty Firth and Firth of Forth were picked, meaning one from Clyde and another from Orkney also missed out.
Mr Wood led an independent review for the UK government in 2014 which recommended maximising economic recovery from the offshore sector, and later the creation of the Oil & Gas Authority (now the North Sea Transition Authority)
More recently he has funded Opportunity North East, a development agency with aims to diversify the Aberdeenshire economy, and is the chairman of ETZ, which is developing an energy cluster in Aberdeen focused on attracting low carbon technology and manufacturing companies.
He highlighted how the Scottish Government had committed to repositioning the northeast as the “net zero capital of the world” and pledged to continue efforts to bring offshore wind, hydrogen and carbon capture projects to Aberdeen.
He said: “However, the UK government’s overly severe application of the Energy Profits Levy and the Scottish government’s new position supporting a presumption against oil and gas exploration, are economically damaging and seriously risk creating an adverse environment for investment in the industry at a time we need to be doing all we can to maximise our energy security and sustain jobs to support energy transition and meet net zero targets.
"Awarding northeast Scotland green freeport status would have significantly helped in ameliorating these policies.
“It is therefore now incumbent upon both governments to act swiftly and demonstrate their long term support for the region through meaningful interventions that ensure we continue to play a leading role in securing both Scotland and the UK’s energy and economic security for generations to come.”