§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will give his estimate of the cost of extracting, treating and transporting to shore terminals the United Kingdom oil and natural gas reserves which he evaluates as worth £300 billion at current energy prices.
§ Dr. John A. CunninghamI am not able to estimate the cost of extracting, treating and transporting the quantities of oil and natural gas associated with this evaluation because it involves the development of fields in the late 1980s and early 1990s that are subject to considerable uncertainty in respect of the nature of the finds and their technological requirements.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will express in money terms the calculation that by 1980 output of North Sea oil will improve the balance of payments by over 3 per cent. of the GNP and between 5 per cent. and 5.5 per cent. in 1985.
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§ Dr. John A. CunninghamThe calculations to which the hon. Member refers are based on the results of an exercise published in the Treasury's Economic Progress Report for July 1976, where they were also expressed in money terms. However, any projections made in money terms are dependent upon the assumptions adopted about prospective United Kingdom and world rates of inflation and for this reason it is preferable to express them as percentages of GNP.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Energy whether the calculation that the value of gas and oil reserves in the North Sea amounting to £300 billion at current energy prices referred to oil and gas in place or that proportion of it which was likely to be recoverable by primary and secondary methods of production.
§ Dr. John A. CunninghamThe estimated value of North Sea oil and gas reserves of about £300 billion at today's prices relates to total recoverable reserves.