§ Mr. Stephen Rossasked the Secretary of State for Energy what would be the known reserves of oil and natural gas, expressed as (a) a quantity, and (b) a percentage of total known reserves, in the English sector of the North Sea, if the boundary line between the English and Scottish sectors were taken to be a prolongation of the land frontier from the point at which it intersects the coast, as in accordance with international maritime law, rather than the line of latitude at which the land frontier intersects the coast.
§ Mr. John SmithThere are no sectors in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf, but because there are three systems of law in the United Kingdom it is necessary to define the areas of their respective jurisdictions. The resulting divisions are solely for this purpose.
§ Mr. David Priceasked the Secretary of State for Energy what are the proven oil reserves in British waters off Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Orkney and Shetland Islands, respectively; and what percentage of the total each represents.
§ Mr. John SmithProven oil reserves in United Kingdom waters amount to about 1,060 million tons. Since there is no basis for defining what sectors of the United Kingdom Continental Shelf would be appropriately regarded as belonging to different parts of the country, I can make no estimate of what percentage of total reserves might lie in these hypothetical sectors.