§ Mr. HardyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what action has been taken to ensure that orders for floating production units to be used in the development of United Kingdom off-shore oil reserves will either be built in the United Kingdom or have substantial United Kingdom content. [38116]
§ Mr. PageMy Department established a working group in 1994 to consider how to make United Kingdom industry more competitive in the supply of floating production systems. At the beginning of 1995, the group proposed a set of recommendations for Government and industry. These have been implemented and the competitiveness of UK industry has improved markedly, as evidenced by the several orders placed with UK companies for floating production system work during 1995 and 1996. Most notably, Harland and Wolff in Belfast are building what is expected to be the world's largest shipshaped floating production system for BP. Also, BARMAC, AMEC, SLP, Heerema Hartlepool and Brown Brothers have all won orders and UK industry is well positioned for further work.