HC Deb 06 November 2001 vol 374 c169W
Dr. Tonge

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will review the advice given by his Department to British companies involved in oil extraction in Southern Sudan; and if she will make a statement.[11154]

Mr. Wilson

[holding answer 1 November 2001]: We have no ongoing campaign to promote investment in the Sudanese oil industry. We provide full and frank advice to companies that approach us about oil extraction in southern Sudan. We keep this advice under constant review.

Dr. Tonge

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the British companies which are involved in oil and gas pipelines between the Caspian and Europe.[11480]

Mr. Wilson

[holding answer 1 November 2001]: The information is as follows:

Operational Pipelines BAKU (Azerbaijan)—SUPSA (Georgia/Black Sea): BP plc has a 34.14 per cent. holding in the consortium, and is the operator of the pipeline. No other British oil companies are involved. Tengiz (Kazakhstan)—Novorossiysk (Russia): BP, Shell and BG Group all have small equity holdings of between 2 and 6.25 per cent.

Planned Pipelines Baku (Azerbaijan)—Tbilisi (Georgia)—Ceyhan (Turkey): BP plc currently has a 25.72 per cent. holding in, and is the operator for, two consortia planning parallel oil and gas pipelines. The final ownership structures have not yet been decided. No other British oil companies are currently involved.

Dr. Tonge

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the British oil industry companies which operate in(a) Tajikistan, (b) Turkmenistan, (c) Uzbekistan, (d) Kyrgstan and (e) Kazakhstan. [11481]

Mr. Wilson

[holding answer 1 November 2001]The information is as followsTajikistan and Kyrgistan—None. Turkmenistan—Shell and Burren Energy have offices. Uzbekistan—Shell have an office. Trinity Energy have a holding in a consortium operating an exploration asset. Kazakhstan—BG Group, Shell, BP and Enterprise Oil all have holdings in consortia operating exploration and production assets.