§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Secretary of State for Energy what replies he has had to his requests to the United Kingdom offshore operators for an indication of the number of production platforms they are planning to order in the near future; and how many platform orders he is now expecting during the remainder of 1975.
§ Mr. BennI have received replies from all the 20 principal oil companies to which I wrote about the possibility of their advancing orders for oil production platforms. Whilst the companies accepted 187W our concern for the future development of the United Kingdom offshore industry and declared unequivocally their willingness to co-operate in giving business to British firms having the necessary capability and competence, none of them felt able to bring forward to this year orders for platforms for which their technical evaluations were not yet complete. I intend to hold further discussions on this subject.