§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will scrutinise all revelevant exploration data, including down-hole pressures, to ensure that it is technologically safe to produce, before issuing a production licence from an offshore oil platform.
§ Mr. StrangProduction licences enable licensees to search and bore for and get oil and gas; they must necessarily be issued before any drilling is carried out in the licensed area. Proposals for the drilling of wells and for the development of discoveries are subject to approval by the Department's Petroleum Production Inspectorate, which ensures that all operations are carried out safely in accordance with good oilfield practice.
§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Energy whether the safety and pollution records of oil drilling and producing companies in their earlier global operations will be taken into account before exploration or production licences are issued.
§ Mr. StrangThe technical ability of companies applying for licences to search, bore for and get petroleum is one of the criteria which has been taken into account in the past when considering applications for licences. The criteria for future licensing rounds is under review at the present time.
§ Mr. Woofasked the Secretary of State for Energy (1) what estimate he has made of the reserves of production of gas from the Continental Shelf towards the end of the present decade;
(2) in terms of gas reserves in the United Kingdom part of the North Sea, what are the forecasts for production and consumption by the 1980s.
§ Mr. StrangAs stated in the recently published "Brown Book", it is estimated that there are about 41.5 trillion (1012) 589W cubic feet of gas remaining in known discoveries in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf. These reserves should support a production rate of about 5,000 mcfd in 1980, and with gas from the Norwegian part of the Frigg field should be sufficient to meet expected premium demand and allow for some short-term sales in non-premium markets.
§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Energy what steps are taken by his Department to ensure compliance with safety regulations by drilling companies or operators working in the Scottish sector of the North Sea.
§ Mr. Strang,pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 10th July 1974], gave the following information:
Compliance is ensured in the course of normal day-to-day administration of the relevant Acts, regulations and licence provisions and through regular inspections undertaken by staff of the Department's Petroleum Production Inspectorate.