Oil and gas production in Scotland rose 2.9% last year, new figures show.

About 74.7 million tonnes was extracted from Scottish waters, worth around £17.5bn.

Despite production hitting its highest level in six years, tax revenues fell to -£312m - the worst year on record.

The latest figures were published as the First Minister announced the Scottish Government was shutting down a high-profile group created to support redundant workers.

A significant drop in the value of oil and industry tax cuts have led to a loss of revenue from the North Sea and cost thousands of jobs.

Energy minister Paul Wheelhouse said he believes Scotland's oil sector has a "bright future", however.

"It is encouraging to see this continued increase in production which has risen by a total of 25% over the last two years," he said.

"These figures show that confidence is continuing to return to the sector after a number of challenging years."

Oil and gas production in Scotland plunged from 179 million tonnes in the 1998/99 financial year to 59.8 million in 2014/15.

It has since risen by about 14.9 million tonnes a year, according to figures published by the Scottish Government on Wednesday.

Petroleum tax revenues fell to from -£562m to -£650m in 2016/17, while corporation tax more than halved from £713m to £338m, HMRC reported.

Wheelhouse said: "Even in the context of our low carbon transition, harnessing the resources of the North Sea will be vital to the Scottish economy for decades to come."

"The Energy Jobs Taskforce has delivered an exceptional range of support for industry and individuals in the sector," he added.

Around 60,000 people working in the UK's oil and gas sector lost their jobs last year and another 13,000 could be under threat in 2017.

About 300,000 people are now employed in the sector, 150,000 less than in 2014.

Wheelhouse added: "The Scottish Government will continue to do everything within our powers to support the industry and its workforce, while calling on the UK Government to improve the fiscal and regulatory regime to encourage on-going investment to support jobs and export led growth."

However, Scottish Labour's economy spokeswoman Jackie Baillie MSP criticised the SNP's response to the oil downturn.

"It is welcome that these figures show small signs of recovery in the oil and gas industry, but the SNP's response to the crisis has been half-hearted at best," she said.

"Thousands of people have lost their jobs, but the SNP has failed to properly respond because to do so would be to admit what everyone in Scotland now knows - the nationalists' case for independence was built on fantasy economics that would have left Scotland poorer."