§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Energy what part the Government are playing in the efforts of the International Energy Agency to secure a suitable floor price for oil; and whether he is prepared to support United States initiatives on downside risk.
§ Mr. John SmithThe International Energy Agency has adopted a series of concepts for accelerating the development of alternatives to imported oil, including a common minimum safeguard level of prices below which imported oil would not be sold on the domestic markets of IEA countries. Discussion on levels is continuing in the IEA and the United Kingdom is taking a full part.Much work remains to be done to devise measures to implement the concepts and our own studies are by no means complete.