Recent rises in the price of oil have triggered anticipation of somewhat better times ahead in the North Sea. Last month BP announced two new discoveries — Capercaillie in the central segment and Achmelvich, west of Shetland. While the scale of the new reserves is being assessed, their discovery, together with the hardening benchmark price, have served to brighten and lengthen the outlook for Scotland’s offshore oil and gas. It would be a gross exaggeration to paint this as a hydrocarbon renaissance. In the past ten years, Brent crude has fetched as much as $140 a barrel but since the price collapsed dramatically in mid-2014, from $112 to as little as $34, oil has struggled to shake off a new normal around the $50 mark.…