HC Deb 17 March 1976 vol 907 c539W
Mr. Wigley

asked the Secretary of State for Energy what were the proved and probable natural gas reserves of the United Kingdom during each of the last five years.

Mr. John Smith

Figures for 1972, 1973, and 1974 have already been given in the annual reports to Parliament, commonly referred to as the Department of Energy "Brown Books". The figure for 1975 will be similarly reported.

For the earlier years figures are given in the Department of Energy Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics 1975, but these are not comparable as they also include "possible" reserves.

For convenience the remaining reserves are given below:

"Proven + Probable" million m3
1970 … … 850,985 (30 tcf)
1971 … … 792,857 (28 tcf)
1972 … … 849,500 (30 tcf)
1973 … … 988,249 (35 tcf)
1974 … … 1,030,723 (36 tcf)