HC Deb 05 April 1971 vol 815 cc12-3W
68. Mr. J. H. Osborn

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, following the discussions between the oil companies and the Governments of the oil producing countries, what is now his estimate of the cost of importing fuel oil, crude petroleum, refined petroleum, and petroleum products in the current year; what effect this will have on the United Kingdom's balance of payments in the current year; and what will be the change in the years to come.

Sir J. Eden

It would be misleading to give estimates of the future total costs of our oil imports because these depend on so many variables such as rate of oil consumption and changing pattern of supplies. As regards additional costs the discussions referred to by my hon. Friend are not all concluded so their full effect cannot yet be assessed.

69. Mr. J. H. Osborn

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is his estimate of the value and weight of fuel oil, petroleum, and petroleum pro-

OIL IMPORTS AND NET IMPORTS
Petroleum (crude and partly refined) Fuel Oil Other Petroleum Products Totals
Period million tons £million million tons £million million tons £million million tons £million
I Gross Imports*
1970 Q1 … 24.0 165.5 2.1 12.1 3.4 43.8 29.5 221.4
Q2 … 25.4 175.3 2.0 12.7 2.8 37.9 30.2 225.9
Q3 … 26.1 182.2 2.1 15.6 2.6 34.4 30.8 232.2
Q4 … 26.0 189.2 2.7 22.8 2.9 38.5 31.6 250.5
Year … 101.5 712.2 8.9 63.2 11.7 154.6 122.1 930.0
1971 Q1 (estimate)† … 25.0 200.0 3.0 24.0 3.8 50.0 31.8 274.0
II Net Imports* (negative figures represent net exports)
1970 Q1 … 23.8 164.0 -0.2 -0.9 1.0 13.3 24.6 176.4
Q2 … 25.1 173.1 0.2 2.5 0.9 12.5 26.2 188.1
Q3 … 25.6 178.9 0.3 5.0 0.2 3.9 26.1 187.8
Q4 … 25.7 186.4 0.8 10.5 0.2 3.0 26.7 199.9
Year … 100.2 702.4 1.1 17.1 2.3 32.7 103.6 752.2
1971 Q1 (estimate)† … 24.7 198.0 1.5 14.0 1.5 20.0 27.7 232.0
* Imports are valued cif and exports are valued fob. Net imports are the difference between imports and exports.
† Estimated on the basis of the actual imports and exports reported for January and February, 1971.
Source: Overseas Trade Statistics of the United Kingdom.