North Sea Oil and Gas

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 23 June 1971.

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Photo of Mr John Eden Mr John Eden , Bournemouth West 12:00, 23 June 1971

The hon. Member for Ebbw Vale (Mr. Michael Foot) has rather got matters out of proportion. What we are talking about in the competitive tender arrangements amounts to about 3 per cent. only of the territory on offer. It is of significance in order to give this country experience of the value of combining tendering procedure with the discretionary licensing arrangement which has always applied hitherto. All, or most, other countries have had the tendering procedure in operation for a long time. It is right that we should try, on a very limited front—which is all this is—to see whether it has relevance to this country. This is simply an experiment.

The conditions of the Continental Shelf Act still apply both to the tendering blocks and to the other blocks. As for the hon. Member's final point about the nationalised industries, what we have done is remove the discrimination in their favour put there by the last Government.