§ Dr. Phippsasked the Secretary of State for Energy what proportion of the total recoverable reserves of oil, declared commercial in the United Kingdom sector of the North Sea, are owned by United Kingdom companies.
§ Dr. Phippsasked the Secretary of State for Energy (1) what are the recoverable oil reserves of each oilfield declared commercial in the United Kingdom sector of the North Sea;
(2) how many oilfields in the United Kingdom sector of the North Sea have been declared commercial; and what are their titles.
§ Mr. John SmithThere are now 14 commercial oilfields in the United Kingdom sector of the North Sea. In addition 57W to the 13 listed in Appendix 9 to the 1975 Brown Book, the United Kingdom Statfjord field has this year attained commercial status. Licences usually regard the publishing of estimates of the recoverable reserves of oil in a field as a matter for their commercial judgment.
§ Mr. Canavanasked the Secretary of State for Energy what is the estimated number of jobs which have been created in the Grangemouth area as a result of the Forties Field development; and what is the employment forecast for the next 12 months.
§ Mr. John FraserI have been asked to reply. I regret that it is not possible to provide estimates of employment in Grangemouth resulting from the Forties Field development. However, the numbers of workers employed at 30th November 1975 in companies, in the Lothian and Central Regions of Scotland, wholly engaged in activities related to the offshore oil industry was estimated to be 480. It is expected that this figure will increase by 200 during the next year. These estimates do not include workers engaged in offshore oil related work in companies only partially engaged in such work nor those in the construction industry.
The construction of a gas separation plant and a tank farm and oil terminal in the Grangemouth area, however, is likely to provide a number of additional jobs which are not included in the estimates given above.