Scotland could launch a national oil fund within a year of independence, experts said yesterday.

The Scottish government bolstered its call for a Yes vote in next year's referendum following the report, which found a dual-fund system could begin investing the government's North Sea royalties as early as 2016.

The plan would see a short-term "stabilisation" fund managing dips and peaks in revenue gained from its oil and gas revenues, while gains from a second, long-term fund could be channelled into public assets, the government's independent Fiscal Commission Working Group found.

Finance Secretary John Swinney said the report had answered "key questions" about how to manage an independent Scotland's wealth.

But critics on both sides of the independence debate told the Morning Star that royalties alone were not enough.

Under current rules Scotland would draw 30 per cent of the North Sea's oil revenues, which last year totalled £7.3 billion.

However the figure is dwarfed by Scotland's public-spending deficit, which has averaged £11bn since 2010.

The new nation-state would also have to rebuild from planned coalition spending cuts of nearly £10bn over the next year and deal with a £106bn share of national debt.

The pro-devolution Red Paper Collective's Dave Watson said the oil fund was "a good idea - I don't think anyone would dispute that."

But it was not nearly enough to cope, he said.

Nationalising the entire industry would triple the Scottish government's revenues, he said.

But Mr Watson warned it would entail "massive" buyout costs - or a political crisis if the government refused to pay compensation.

Radical Independence spokesman Jonathan Shafi said he welcomed the Red Paper's contributions to the debate.

But politics was all about forcing a popular issue onto the agenda, he said.

"For us that means oil should be taken into democratic ownership."