Lord CAMPBELL of CROYMy 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 still consider that the refining capacity within the United Kingdom represented by refineries in existence and others being constructed is enough for the needs of the United Kingdom for the foreseeable future.
§ The MINISTER of STATE, DEPART-MENT of ENERGY (Lord Balogh)My Lords, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Energy said in another place on 6th December 1974 that if projects now under consideration were to go ahead he expected United Kingdom refining capacity in the early 1980s to approach 150 million tons a year. He said this should be enough, overall, to meet our own needs and provide for some exports. There will, however, have to be some modification of refinery capacity to deal with the new qualities of the North Sea oil.
Lord CAMPBELL of CROYMy Lords, will the Government try to give wider circulation to this information, because there is considerable anxiety, especially in some areas of Scotland, that our need to extract offshore oil as soon as possible will lead to a rash of new refineries springing up, with attendant risks of air pollution and oil spills?
§ Lord BALOGHMy Lords, as the noble Lord may have noticed, we are to deal with refinery capacity, construction and control in the forthcoming Petroleum Bill. Until then there are very strict planning restrictions on the erection of refineries. The noble Lord may be assured that the Government have the problems of pollution and the needs of the country and employment thoroughly in mind.
§ The Earl of LAUDERDALEMy Lords, can the noble Lord assure the House that, through the good offices of his own relations with the Minister of State, the Scottish Office will issue a fresh statement, making it absolutely clear to the people of Scotland that there is no danger at this moment of a proliferation of refineries? Is the noble Lord aware that some of the documents which have been issued from the Scottish Office in the past two years have created more confusion rather than dispersed it?
§ Lord BALOGHMy Lords, as the noble Earl will know, there is the refinery project at Nigg Point. This is now subject to public inquiry, and all the considerations which the noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Croy, has mentioned, and with which I thoroughly agree, will be taken into account.
§ The Earl of LAUDERDALEMy Lords, will the noble Lord confirm that no refinery projects are going on in Scotland at the moment other than the one under public inquiry at Nigg?
§ Lord BALOGHMy Lords, I am sorry, but I must have notice of that further question.