NICOLA Sturgeon has been accused of being in “utter denial” about the crisis in the North Sea after failing to publish an assessment of Scotland’s oil and gas sector for 18 months.

Labour said it was “a disgrace” that SNP ministers had not issued one of their “topical” oil and gas bulletins at any point during 2016, despite thousands of job losses last year.

The First Minister promised an update “in due course” last June, but none has appeared.

An estimated 120,000 of the 450,000 jobs supported by the North Sea in the UK have been lost since 2014 because of the oil price slump, according to the industry body Oil and Gas UK.

A report this week also said the number of oil businesses going bust had reached a record high - with 16 insolvencies in 2016 - and warned many more firms would go to the wall unless prices improved significantly, with small independents most at risk.

Prices fell from $120 a barrel to just under $50 last year, but have rallied slightly recently.

The SNP government published its first Oil and Gas Analytical Bulletin into the health of the North Sea in March 2013, as it was promoting a Yes vote in the independence referendum.

Described as a “topical analytical briefing” and “the first in a series of bulletins”, it focused on production levels, remaining reserves and potential future revenues.

It predicted that, based on a “cautious” estimate of $113 per barrel, the Scottish waters of the North Sea could yield £48bn in tax revenues by 2018.

Then First Minister Alex Salmond said “with independence [the £48bn] could have been put to use in Scotland”, adding: “Scotland’s oil and gas sector is going from strength to strength”.

The second Bulletin followed eight months later in November 2013, and the third just six months later in May 2014.

However only one Bulletin appeared, in June 2015, after the referendum, when tax revenue from North Sea oil effectively fell to zero.

Asked last June when the next one would appear, Ms Sturgeon told MSPs: “A revised oil and gas bulletin will be published in due course. Although it is important to publish such publications routinely - we will continue to do so - we do not need a revised oil and gas bulletin to tell us about the challenges that the sector faces right now.”

Labour economy spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: “In her White Paper on independence, Nicola Sturgeon promised a future free from Tory austerity based on oil revenues of £8bn a year. She wasn't just a little bit wrong – her oil figures were out by more than 6,000 per cent.

“Scots were let down by the SNP Government on oil and that can’t ever happen again.

"The SNP is still in complete and utter denial about the oil crisis.

“It is a disgrace that no Bulletin has been published for so many months, especially as the industry has just come through one of the toughest years on record.

“Rather than living in a fantasy land, the SNP Government should assess the impact of the oil jobs crisis on the wider Scottish economy and commit to publishing regular oil and gas bulletins with a specific focus on the impact of oil prices on jobs.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “As the First Minister has already indicated, the Oil and Gas Analytical Bulletin will be published in due course. In addition, the Scottish Government publishes a number of other publications - including Oil and Gas Production Statistics and Energy in Scotland 2017 – which provide detailed statistics and analysis of the oil and gas industry and wider energy sector.”