asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will identify the members of the study group following the publication of the William Mertz report and indicate when the group is expected to report.

We are not yet in a position to identify the private sector companies which will join British Gas Corporation and British National Oil Corporation in Gas Gathering Pipelines (NorthSea) Ltd. As my right hon. Friend stated in the House on 9th December, he has asked Gas Gathering Pipelines Ltd. to submit a preliminary report to him in December 1977 and to update it by the end of March 1978.—[Official Report, 9th December 1976; Vol. 922, c. 311–13.]