§ Captain Pilkingtonasked the Paymaster-General what extra oil supplies have been obtained from the United States of America since the Suez incident; and the prospects for the next few months.
§ Mr. MaudlingOur imports of oil from the United States rose from a monthly average of 117,000 tons in the first 10 months of 1956 to 210,000 tons in November and 670,000 tons in December. For shipping and other reasons the proportion of our future imports which will be drawn from the United States as distinct from other sources of supply cannot be forecast accurately, but in the next few months we would expect them to be lower than imports in December which included large liftings from stock.