§ Mr. Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimates the Government have made in their environmental assessment of the volume of oil that might be transported by tanker from the trenches licensed for production in the Atlantic Frontier and the likely increase in the number of tankers as a result. [59376]
§ Mr. BattleThere are currently two oilfields, Foinaven and Schiehallion, producing from the Atlantic Frontier with combined reserves of approximately 700 million barrels of oil. Both fields use shuttle-tanker export for produced oil and the shuttle-tanker frequency for both fields is one return journey every five days or so. Over the next twenty years we anticipate approximately 1,000 return shuttle-tanker journeys to deplete Foinaven and Schiehallion.
Any new oil developments in this area will be treated on a case-by-case basis in the light of existing and potential infrastructure provision and will be subject to a full Environmental Impact Assessment process.