§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy (1) if he will list the countries from which Britain imported natural gas in 1988 together with the tonnages for each such country;
(2) what was the tonnage of natural gas brought ashore from the United Kingdom continental shelf in 1988; and how much came from (a) gas fields and (b) oil fields.
§ Mr. WakehamThe main countries from which Britain imported natural gas in 1988 were Norway (15.4 million tonnes of coal equivalent) and Algeria (0.1 million tonnes of coal equivalent).
The tonnage of natural gas brought ashore from the United Kingdom continental shelf in 1988 was 45.9 million tonnes of coal equivalent from gas fields and 14.2 million tonnes of coal equivalent from oil fields.
§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy what is his Department's estimate of the likely exports and imports of natural gas in each year till 1995.
§ Mr. WakehamThe United Kingdom imports approximately 20 per cent. of its gas from Norway and small amounts of liquefied gas from Algeria and elsewhere. This proportion is expected to decline over the next three or four years as imports are replaced by indigenous supplies. Gas exports are at present small and their future size will depend on market opportunity.