HC Deb 08 May 1978 vol 949 cc758-60
10. Mr. Dykes

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will outline the principal terms and conditions from earlier offshore oil licence rounds which he intends to include in the forthcoming consultative document on the sixth round of licence applications.

16. Mr. Kenneth Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for Energy when he expects to publish his consultative document on the detailed proposals for the sixth round of licensing for North Sea oil exploration.

Mr. Benn

I hope to publish a draft showing the proposed terms for the next round of licensing on Wednesday. These will provide a basis for consultation with the companies and the unions. My intention is to strengthen national control over offshore oil resources.

Mr. Dykes

I thank the Secretary of State for that reply. I do not expect an answer to this now, but may I urge him to consider seriously the possibility of the independent companies, if they are allocated licences, becoming operators?

Mr. Benn

I shall certainly consider what the hon. Member has said. There are a number of independent companies involved, and there has been no discrimination by the Department of Energy in considering applications. Since there will be an opportunity for consultation over this period, I take it that any representations which it might be wished to make will be made during that period.

Mr. Lewis

Will the Minister confirm that BNOC has already had seven or eight new licences granted and that in the meantime there are two or more applications in the private sector which have been held up by him? Is not this discrimination and an attempt further to nationalise the North Sea rather than providing a mix with BNOC and the free enterprise sector?

Mr. Benn

I do not know what the hon. Member has in mind. I announced in the House on 5th April that nine blocks would be given to BNOC on a sole licence basis and that this had no bearing on the new licensing rounds, one of which I have referred to in my answer. It is one of the conditions that we laid down that BNOC should be a partner in the fifth round, and we believe that that is right. If such an arrangement is not made, the extent to which there is national access to, or control of, these resources, will be very limited. To that extent we are filling in a gap left by the previous Conservative Government.

Mr. Skeet

Will the Secretary of State bear in mind that the North Sea is already over-regulated? Therefore, when he comes forward with his proposals on Wednesday, will he strike out what I understand might come into the operation—phased development programmes—and also the other suggestion of carried interest, whether it be voluntary or compulsory, which would only hold up operations in the North Sea?

Mr. Benn

I cannot anticipate the statement that I will make or the document that I will publish on Wednesday. That would be wrong. The hon. Member says that the North Sea is over-regulated. He must be aware that when the present Government came to power there was no legislation, no participation, and no petroleum revenue tax, and very little interest was taken in British domestic industry or the trade unions. We have filled a very important gap here without in any way checking the flow of investment or technology.

Mr. Tom King

Under whose authority is BNOC telling oil companies to which it wishes to sell oil that it will arrange that they have exemption from export licensing controls?

Mr. Benn

The hon. Member puts forward a statement and embraces it as his own without any justification for it. The regulation powers granted by Parliament are granted to the Secretary of State and not to BNOC. BNOC has no powers of regulation whatever. I have made this clear again and again in the House. The hon. Member, for reasons best known to himself, speaks of BNOC as a regulatory agency, which it is not. The hon. Member has not produced any evidence to the effect that such a statement has been made. If he will produce evidence of what has been said, I am prepared to look into it. But I am saying that only the Government have been authorised by Parliament. That is the legal position, and to that we have adhered.