HL Deb 12 July 1973 vol 344 cc823-5

3.12 p.m.

LORD DE CLIFFORD

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are aware of the warning being given to small country filling stations by oil companies that due to the increasing shortage of petrol they will be unable to supply them from September, and whether this is connected with a proposed system of rationing which the national Press has stated that the Government are considering.

THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO (LORD DRUMALBYN)

No, my Lords; but I have heard that one small independent distributor is ceasing distribution because he finds it uneconomic. I believe that one major oil company is reorganising its distribution system and another has advised some of its non-contractual wholesale customers that if the supply position deteriorates it may not be able to continue to supply them. However, I understand from some major suppliers that there is at present no shortage of petrol for filling stations. The Government's long-standing plans for rationing supplies in an emergency form part of our normal contingency planning.

LORD DE CLIFFORD

My Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for that reply, may I ask him whether he is quite certain that during the course of the next few months we shall not reach the situation which they have reached in America and, I now understand, in Italy?

LORD DRUMALBYN

My Lords, one is never quite certain in this life, but I think it is highly improbable that we shall. The situation in the United States of America is rather different, for reasons that do not affect this country. The main point is that they have a lack of refinery capacity to process enough imparts to fill the gap left by the falling off of their indigenous output of oil.

LORD HALE

My Lords, will the noble Lord bear in mind that it has been widely reported in the United States that the present shortage may be exploited by the oil companies' withholding supplies from independent vendors of petrol, with the intention of acquiring a monopoly and buying them up cheaply? Will he make sure that there is an equality and a fairness of supply if these steps have to be taken here?

LORD DRUMALBYN

My Lords, I am sure the noble Lord will remember that there was a Report of the Monopolies Commission in 1965, following upon which voluntary undertakings were obtained from suppliers designed to give retailers greater protection. I can also inform your Lordships that a Monopolies Commission Report on parallel pricing was due to be published at 2.30 p.m. to-day, and should be available in the House of Commons Library now.

LORD DAVIES OF LEEK

My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that the implication of the Question put by the noble Lord opposite is one that should make all of us, and particularly the Government, alert to the fact that now more than ever research should be undertaken into alternative methods of transport, other than by means of the internal combustion engine? Are we supporting any possibilities of an advancement in the electric motor for travel at least in congested cities like London? Such a thing, if we could get it, would be a Godsend.

LORD DRUMALBYN

My Lords, I should like to look into that question, but it seems to me rather a different one from that on the Order Paper.