Here are the business stories making the headlines across Scotland and the UK this morning.
Breaking news: Parkmead announces major North Sea blocks
Aberdeen-based Parkmead has landed what could be one of the largest undiscovered oil fields in the North Sea.
The company has just announced to the markets that it has been provisionally awarded three new offshore blocks by the North Sea Transition Authority Tranche 2 of the UK's 33rd Licensing Round awards.
This award consists of a licence covering Blocks 14/15a, 14/20d and 15/11a situated in the Central North Sea. The new licence contains seven undeveloped oil discoveries within Mesozoic and Palaeozoic reservoirs. The most substantial of these is Fynn Beauly.
Fynn Beauly is one of the largest undeveloped oil accumulations in the UK, with estimated gross P50 contingent resources of 292 million barrels. This large heavy oil discovery is situated between the prolific Claymore and Piper fields.
The field extends across all three awarded blocks and is estimated to contain oil-in-place of between 740 and 1,330 million barrels, potentially more than the Cambo field.
Parkmead said the work programme is focused on assessing the feasibility of reducing Fynn Beauly oil viscosity using enhanced oil recovery techniques. This work will include assessing the potential to utilise geothermal energy as part of the recovery mechanism to avoid the need for injected hot water.
Parkmead chairman Tom Cross said: "This award demonstrates further success in Parkmead's strategy to identify value enhancing opportunities through lower risk developments, which are aligned with the NSTA's Net Zero strategy. It also reaffirms Parkmead's status as a responsible and capable operator on the UKCS."
Parkmead will be operator and hold a 50% working interest, alongside its partner Orcadian Energy (CNS) Limited.
Click here to read more.
Aberdeen set to name Warnock as interim manager
Neil Warnock is expected to be named Aberdeen interim manager until the end of the season.
And a deal could be done in time for Warnock, 75, to be in the dugout when Aberdeen visit Rangers tomorrow evening.
The former Leeds United, Sheffield United and Cardiff City boss was spotted arriving at Aberdeen International Airport last night.
Barry Robson was dismissed last week after a year in charge at Pittodrie.
Click here to read more via BBC Sport.
Sunak’s stealth tax raid to catch 900,000 pensioners
Rishi Sunak’s stealth tax raid will hit up to 900,000 pensioners with a surprise income tax bill next year, new analysis shows.
The Prime Minister’s six-year freeze on tax thresholds will force hundreds of thousands of retirees claiming a married couple’s tax break to pay a levy on their state pensions for the first time.
The marriage allowance enables one half of a couple to transfer a tenth, or £1,260, of their personal tax-free allowance to the other, saving them up to £252 a year provided the other is a basic rate tax payer.
Around 40%, or 900,000, of the 2.28m people who currently claim the relief are pensioners, according to HMRC data obtained by The Telegraph via a Freedom of Information request.
Bus driver who died after alleged assault in Elgin named
A bus driver who died after an alleged assault in Elgin on Saturday has been named by police.
Keith Rollinson, 58, died at Dr Grays Hospital in Elgin following the incident at a bus station in the St Giles Road area at about 22:40 on Friday.
A 15-year-old boy has been arrested and charged in connection with the incident.
He is due to appear at Elgin Sheriff Court on Monday.
Scottish prison boss says 'we can't take any more'
The head of the Scottish Prison Service has said the jails are too full and she may soon have to say "enough is enough, we cannot take any more".
Teresa Medhurst told BBC Disclosure prisons were reaching a "tipping point" and emergency powers could be needed to release inmates early.
She said if numbers continued to rise, drastic measures could be needed as soon as next month.
The prison boss said "all options would need to be on the table".
There are currently about 8,000 people behind bars in Scotland but that is projected to rise to 8,700 this year.
Former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale admits voting SNP
A former leader of the Labour Party in Scotland has admitted voting SNP.
Kezia Dugdale told a new BBC documentary she was "so mad about Brexit" she backed the party at the European Parliament election in 2019.
She said she had voted Labour at every election since.
Ms Dugdale was still a member of the Scottish Parliament at the time. She had quit as leader two years previously and had also announced she was quitting Holyrood.
Russian oil getting into UK via refinery loophole, reports claim
Millions of barrels of fuel made from Russian oil are still being imported to the UK despite sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine, research claims.
A so-called "loophole" means Russian crude is refined in countries such as India and the products sold to the UK.
This is not illegal and does not breach the UK's Russian oil ban, but critics say it undermines sanctions aimed at restricting Russia's war funds.
The UK government denied there had been any imports of Russian oil since 2022.
But a spokesman said internationally recognised "rules of origin" define that crude, once refined in another country, is classed for the purposes of trade as originating from the refining country.