§ 10. Mr. Warrenasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the policy of Her Majesty's Government on depletion rates of North Sea oil reserves.
§ Dr. J. Dickson MabonThe Government's policy is that production should be built up rapidly so that we achieve net self-sufficiency in oil by 1980. If production in later years has to be limited in the national interest the guidelines announced to the House by the previous Secretary of State on 6th December 1974 will apply.—[Official Report, c. 648–50.]
§ Mr. Tim Rentonasked the Secretary of State for Energy what is his estimate of the annual amount of oil in 1980, expressed as a percentage of the total landing of North Sea oil in that year, that will come ashore, respectively, in the Shetlands, in the Orkneys, on the Scottish mainland, and in England.
§ Dr. J. Dickson MabonIn the broadest terms, I estimate that 50 per cent. of North Sea oil will be landed in the Shetlands, 15 per cent. in the Orkneys and 25 per cent. in the mainland of Scotland, while some 10 per cent. will be loaded into tankers at sea and landed at different ports.