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Mr. Ovenden
asked the Secretary of State for Energy what discussions he has held with the Burmah Oil Company concerning that firm's proposal to construct a refinery at Cliffe, Rochester, Kent, in partnership with the Total Oil Company: and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John Smith
A number of discussions have been held at various stages with both the companies involved in the project. The reopened public inquiry which is now in progress is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment. In his statement on refinery policy on 6th December 1974 my right hon. Friend said that this was one of the projects on which achievement of the level of refinery capacity envisaged for the early 1980s depended.—[Vol. 822, c. 646–8.]