HC Deb 26 June 1978 vol 952 c397W
Mr. Wall

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will name the offshore oil fields round the British coast he expects to see explored and developed, respectively, during the next five years.

Mr. Benn

The discovery of fields results from exploration; fields cannot therefore be identified before exploration begins. The names or, where appropriate, block numbers of significant United Kingdom offshore oil discoveries announced by the end of 1977 were set out in Appendix 2 of the Department of Energy publication "Development of the Oil and Gas Resources of the United Kingdom 1978", known as the Brown Book, which was presented to Parliament in April 1978. Any or all of these discoveries could begin to be developed in the next five years.