Oh yeah, that'll work..............................not.

Efficient government, it's almost an oxymoron, especially when used in the context of UK government. State control inevitably means corruption, indifference, higher cost, lower output and an all consuming jobsworth attitude where those at the frontline take secondary importance to the bureaucracy doing the unnecessary paperwork on their cultural diversity.
So it beats me why Peter Odell, a professor at Erasmus University in Rotterdam and an adviser to OPEC wants to place oil production in the hands of the government.

Guardian. (A probable clue, only the idiotic left still believe in nationalisation)

Ministers must wrench back control of oil and gas production from the private sector if Britain is to maximise the value of the remaining reserves in the North Sea, a respected petroleum academic has warned.
Peter Odell, a professor at Erasmus University in Rotterdam and an adviser to OPEC, wants a state-controlled strategic offshore hydrocarbons authority to ensure big oil companies work more in the national interest.
In a new book soon to be published, he argues: "UK oil and gas production has been steadily declining since 1999. The reason is that the UK government, unlike those of most other countries, has abandoned oil and gas production to the private sector and has failed to create attractive conditions for private companies to invest more.
He adds: "The government should follow the example of Norway and many other countries by setting up a hydrocarbons authority, which would initiate new private-public partnerships to engage in offshore oil and gas production. This would generate many billions of pounds in highly-needed revenues."

Well we've all seen how well PFI works in this country, we're now in hock to private companies for the building of various infrastructures as they've consistently overcharged us owing to government incompetence in sorting out the contracts. So why should we trust a UK government to get it right this time, particularly as the oil companies way outclass any government when it comes to negotiating contracts.

"With elections coming up, and the UK finding itself in dire financial straits, this moment represents a golden opportunity for political parties to radically change the UK's hydrocarbons policy, which has served this country very poorly indeed. Such a change would correct a historical mistake and generate many billions of pounds in new revenues."

 Ah gotcha, it's a tax scam and I smell the pungent aroma of EU interference too. Whilst the oilfield are in private hands the government have no real control over production and profits. Put the fields into government hands and just watch the profits shift to the coffers of the EU as no doubt an amendment to Lisbon will transfer sovereignty of oil production as an EU supranational competence.
Might be worth it even if it's just to laugh at anyone claiming "It's Scotland's oil" But overall, I don't think government ought to have anything to do with it, they'd only muck it up big style and destroy a profitable industry by running it into the ground.