HC Deb 03 March 1972 vol 832 cc210-1W
Mr. Eadie

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry of the 47 wells that have been drilled by United Kingdom licensees in the northern basin of the North Sea; what estimate has been made of the likely production of landed oil, at what wells, and at what capital cost.

Mr. Ridley

There are good hopes that production from the United Kingdom sector of the continental shelf will be about 25 million tons per annum by the mid-1970s. The Forties and Auk fields which are being developed will make the major contribution to this. It may reach three times this amount by the 1980s. I am unable to give estimates of cost at this stage.