asked the Secretary of State for Energy what steps he is taking to prevent the waste of gas at those oilfields where the amount of gas produced in association with the oil may be insufficient to justify a separate pipeline to the shore.

Before consenting to any flaring I should need to be fully satisfied that there is no economically viable alternative. For this reason I intend to commission an independent feasibility study to evaluate the relative economics of alternative ways of bringing the associated gas ashore, possibly through a gas-gathering pipeline. I have invited the licensees in the United Kingdom sector of the North Sea to co-operate in such a study.