§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for Energy whether he will take steps to ensure that enough North Sea oil will be available to provide for the needs of the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. GrayI told the House on 11 June that I was not satisfied with the arrangements I found for supplies of oil into the United Kingdom market. I am consulting the oil companies and the British 27W National Oil Corporation on the disposal of North Sea oil and on arrangements to improve our supply. We do not yet produce as much oil as we consume. Even when we do, we shall still need to trade some North Sea oil and to import foreign crudes with different qualities to meet the United Kingdom's pattern of product demand as economically as possible.