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It is one of those tales that keeps getting told long after it has been debunked, a lie that just won’t die. Scotland, the story usually goes, is the only country in the world to ever strike oil and get poorer. There is something mesmerising about this classic one-liner, a favourite meme of “cybernats” – and even the odd MSP – during the independence referendum campaign. The tall tale is, of course, too glib to be true. Lots of countries, as even a cursory glance at world headlines reveals, have become poorer after discovering oil or gas. Scotland, as if this needs to be said, is not one of them.