§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Lord Privy Seal what special arrangements have been made to ensure that none of the BP oil from the North Sea to be exported to South Africa under the recently 416W announced swap will go to Rhodesia; and if he is satisfied that this object can be achieved in the light of the South African law which prevents the disclosure of information on oil movements.
§ Mr. RidleyThe Government have not agreed to the export of North Sea oil to South Africa. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy made clear on 24 May in a written reply to my hon. Friend the Member for New Forest (Mr. McNair-Wilson) that in the present difficult market situation the Government continued to expect companies exporting North Sea oil to do so in the markets of our International Energy Agency or European Economic Community partners.—[Vol. 967, c. 185–6.]
British Petroleum has made clear that the assurances which it gave to the previous Government and which cover its South African subsidiary as well as the BP Group as a whole, about non-involvement in the supply of oil to Rhodesia, either directly or indirectly, or through marketing arrangements related to the supply of oil by others to Rhodesia, remain valid and are regularly updated. BP has undertaken to inform the Government immediately if it has any difficulty in maintaining these assurances.