§ 3. Mr. J. H. Osbornasked the Minister of Technology what steps he proposes to take to preserve confidentiality between the oil companies and their partners on information obtained of the resources of the Continental Shelf.
§ Mr. Harold LeverThis is entirely a matter for the companies themselves.
§ Mr. OsbornLack of confidentiality between oil companies will be of concern to them and could restrict applications in the future. Is there not a problem, because different oil companies will be sharing projects with different nationalised industries under the new arrangements? Will not the partnerships raise difficulties in terms of preserving confidentiality?
§ Mr. LeverIf the hon. Gentleman means that there will be information passed to my Department as a result of this, all the nationalised industries have this information, and we get it in any case. Quite apart from the fact that the partner in the exploration is a nationalised 889 industry, we get the information. We treat the information as highly confidential, even when only two oil companies are in partnership. We do precisely the same in the case of an oil company and a nationalised industry. No one need entertain any fear on that score.