HC Deb 19 November 1981 vol 13 cc197-8W
Mr. Hardy

asked the Secretary of State for Energy what proportion of steel or equipment made from steel required for offshore activity was met from British industry during the first six months of the current year and in 1980.

Mr. Gray

Details are not available of the total proportion of United Kingdom steel or of the United Kingdom steel content of equipment supplied for developments on the United Kingdom continental shelf. Steel supplied by the British Steel Corporation over the periods mentioned is estimated at:

Percentage of total UKCS market
1980 first half of 1981
Tubular steel for casings (but not line pipe) 80–85 80–85
Plate* (from Offshore Division) 20 64
* The wide disparity between 1980 and 1981 reflects cyclical changes in the size of this market and does not necessarily indicate significant changes in the volume of BSC's sales.

Mr. Hardy

asked the Secretary of State for Energy what proportion of offshore material requirement was met from British industry during the first six months of 1981 and during 1980.

Mr. Gray

Figures for 1981 are not yet available but will be published in the Secretary of State's Report to Parliament on the "Development of Oil and Gas Resources of the United Kingdom" 1982. The total value of orders placed in the United Kingdom during 1980 for goods and services for developments on the United Kingdom continental shelf was £2,380 million, of which the United Kingdom share was £1,679 million—71 per cent.

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