HC Deb 21 February 1983 vol 37 cc328-9W
Mr. Tony Speller

asked the Secretary of State for Energy what progress is being made in exploiting Great Britain's onshore oil reserves.

Mr. Gray

The Wytch Farm field, with reserves comparable with those of the smaller North Sea fields has been in production since 1979. The provisional production figure for 1982 is 164,000 tonnes.

Production in 1982 from the established fields at Kimmeridge in Dorset and a number of small fields in the East Midlands is provisionally a further 78,000 tonnes.

No other finds have yet reached the exploitation phase but the Humbly Grove discovery in Hampshire is currently being appraised.