POWER SUPPLIES AND RESTRICTIONS (Hansard, 24 January 1974)

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

§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ENERGY (LORD CARRINGTON)
My Lords, stocks of coal at power stations were higher than expected because of the mild weather, the settling of the power engineers' dispute and because additional oil had been diverted to power stations at Government request. It is not possible to quantify the individual effect of each of these factors; but the combined effect, together with the savings resulting from the Government's measures, has been that coal stocks at power stations have declined by less than 1 million tons in the last four weeks.

§ LORD BESWICK
My Lords, I am obliged to the noble Lord for his reply, but in trying to follow these matters will 1577 he answer a point which arises immediately out of my Question, which of course follows the one which I put to him last week? Last week I asked the noble Lord whether it is the case that imports of crude oil from Saudi Arabia have been continuing at or above the average for the period January to September, 1973, and if this be the case why could not the C.E.G.B. be given more oil? The noble Lord will remember that he gave me a very long and involved reason as to why they could not be given more oil; two hours later, according to the Press—and I quote from the Daily Telegraph—he announced that full electricity supplies are to be restored immediately to the steel industry", and he added that, the oil outlook is considerably brighter because of the increase in Arab output and the special help being given by Saudi Arabia. Will the noble Lord be good enough to explain the reason for the difference between the assessment that he gave to me and the assessment contained in the report which he gave to the Press?

§ LORD CARRINGTON
My Lords, there really is no difference. I hope the noble Lord will accept that from me. The amount of crude oil which we imported from the Arab sources in the period November and December was approximately the average that we got between January and September, 1973, but this of course was very much less than the expectation. The expectation was not only greater because this particular quarter is a time of the year when fuel oil is used in greater quantities, but also because there was considerable growth in the economy and more oil was being used.
Subsequently we expect—because it has not yet arrived—to get some extra oil from Saudi Arabia over and above the average of the period January to September, 1973, but the fact still remains that there is a shortage of imports of products of fuel oil, so that the total situation with regard to fuel oil is not as good as it would have been if we could have got those imports. There really is no difference between what I was saying to the Press and what I have told the noble Lord.

§ LORD SHACKLETON
My Lords, the difficulty as I see it is this. When the 1578 noble Lord informed the Press that he had expectations of increased fuel oil from Saudi Arabia, was this something which he learned between the time when he spoke in your Lordships' House and his statement to the Press? What I really want to ask him is whether it was a new factor, because he certainly gave no indication of these further expectations in his Statement to this House.

§ LORD CARRINGTON
My Lords, in so far as I understood the Question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Beswick, this was irrelevant, because what I thought—and still think—the noble Lord was asking me was why had not the allocation to power stations been increased. But of course any future bigger supplies of oil from Saudi Arabia will not arrive until either next month or March.

§ LORD BESWICK
My Lords, the noble Lord is really evading the question. I was trying to get at the reason why we could not increase the amount of power to industry, and if the noble Lord remembers, I was saying that if we made more fuel oil available the Generating Board could produce more electricity. The noble Lord then said that this was not possible, and he has again said that it is not possible. So may I ask him whether he remembers what he said to the Press, and whether he is correctly reported when the Press report that he said that the outlook was considerably brighter because of this increase in Arab oil? If he is correctly reported, then he did not give the full Answer to the Question which I put to him in this House.

§ LORD CARRINGTON
My Lords, I am sorry, but I am trying to make a distinction to the noble Lord between the future and the present. That oil has not arrived. What I understood the noble Lord to be asking me was why it had not been possible to increase fuel oil supplies to the power stations, and this was long before the question arose of the extra oil from Saudi Arabia.

§ LORD BESWICK
My Lords, the noble Lord is surely aware (is he not?) that I also was talking about the future: I was asking him to take action in the future. One and a half hours later the noble Lord said—again according to the Press—that a four-day week for industry "in about seven days from now is on the cards". 1579 Would he not agree that that was a completely different impression from the one he gave to the House?

§ LORD CARRINGTON
My Lords, if that was the impression that the noble Lord got then I am extremely sorry, but it certainly was not my intention and I really must ask the noble Lord to accept that. I was talking to the Press about oil in the future. This extra oil from Saudi Arabia has not yet arrived and cannot yet be taken into consideration in making allocations to power stations. This is really the difference between what I was saying in the House and the fact that I had what I hoped was some fairly good news to announce to the country about the possibilities of extra oil.

§ LORD SHEPHERD
My Lords, can the noble Lord say whether he is sure that the 200,000 barrels per day promised by Saudi Arabia will in fact come to this country in addition to the existing supplies by the oil companies?

§ LORD CARRINGTON
My Lords, it is up to the Government to see that that is so.

§ LORD WADE
My Lords, on the wider issue, is the noble Lord in a position to say when a Statement will be made, or when he will be able to make a Statement on the relaxation of power restrictions?

§ LORD CARRINGTON
Not at the present time, my Lords, and I think the noble Lord, Lord Wade, will understand the reasons why I cannot make one this afternoon.

§ LORD BESWICK
My Lords, will the noble Lord be good enough to answer one further question? I asked him last week whether it would not be possible for the C.E.G.B., that is, in the England and Wales power stations, to burn 112 per cent. of the oil which they burnt in January, 1973, if that oil was available. If increasing supplies are coming in, will the noble Lord say whether this additional quantity will be made available to the C.E.G.B.?

§ LORD CARRINGTON
My Lords, this is obviously a matter which has still to be decided—the allocation of any future supplies in excess of what one expects. But I must again say to the noble Lord that even so there is a shortage of 1580 fuel oil because of the reduction of imports of products as opposed to crude oil. So I am not entirely satisfied at the present time about the situation with regard to fuel oil as such.