asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what work has been carried out along the sea bed off the coast of Northern Ireland to discover oil or natural gas; how much money has been spent on such investigation; and what has been the result.

Only one licence to search for oil and natural gas in Northern Ireland coastal waters has so far been issued by the Department of Commerce. This was issued to Marathon GB Ltd. in 1968, which partially assigned the licence to Shell UK Ltd. in 1974, and was surrendered in 1975. Both the costs and the results of any exploration are normally regarded as confidential between the company and the Department, but I can confirm that, despite extensive surveys, no offshore drilling took place under this licence.Geological surveys in Northern Ireland coastal waters have also been carried out by the Continental Shelf Unit of the Institute of Geological Science, and reports of these surveys have been published.