§ Mr. T. Fraserasked the Minister of Power what information he has as to the capacity of the oil refineries now under construction in this country; and what is the coal equivalent of the fuel oil to be produced.
§ Mr. PeytonThe capacity now under construction will be able to distill 10 million tons of crude oil a year and, depending on the type of oil processed, to supply between 6 and 8 million tons of coal equivalent of fuel oil.
§ Mr. T. Fraserasked the Minister of Power what estimate he has made of the effect on the coal industry of the increase in the supplies of fuel oil from new refinery development, and of the amount of the investment in the publicly-owned coal industry which will be rendered abortive as a result.
§ Mr. PeytonThe main effect of this development will be to replace imported oil products with home-produced ones. Its effect on coal cannot be isolated from that of oil competition generally.
§ Mr. T. Fraserasked the Minister of Power to what extent he seeks to secure that oil refineries produce as much of their output as possible in the form of lighter fractions for transport, thereby minimising the production of residual fuel oil which is supplementing indigenous coal, of which the nation has abundant supplies and reserves, and is inflicting serious financial strain on a basic industry in this country.
271W
§ Mr. PeytonIt is certainly in the national interest that the output of home refineries in the lighter products which are not generally in competition with coal should be sufficient to cover home requirements, but the balancing of refinery operations between these and other products is a matter for the companies.