§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what stage netogiations have reached with the Netherlands Government on the transboundary Markham gas field.
§ Mr. EggarI am pleased to be able to inform the House that negotiation of a treaty with the Netherlands Government covering the exploitation of the Markham gas field has been concluded and that the treaty was signed in The Hague on 26 May by the British ambassador to the Netherlands Sir Michael Jenkins KCMG and by the Netherlands Minister of Economic Affairs Dr. J. E. Andriessen. The treaty, which is the United Kingdom's fourth transboundary field treaty although the first with the Netherlands, will enable the field to be developed as an integrated unit. It provides for co-operation between the two Governments on matters like safety, inspection, measurement, appointment of a single operator, approval of the field's development plan, abandonment, exchange of information and for the determination and apportionment of reserves. The treaty will in due course be laid before the House. In the meantime I will place a copy of the treaty in the Library of the House.