asked the Secretary of State for Industry what share of tonnage of special and tubular steels, other than submarine pipelines, has been taken up by the British Steel Corporation in Scotland, England and Wales, respectively, in relation to offshore oil and gas developments.

In 1978 the Corporation continued to supply about three-quarters of the tonnage of tubular steels—other than submarine pipelines—used in the United Kingdom sector of the North Sea, and supplied an estimated nine-tenths of the requirement for well casing tubes. BSC also supplied about three-quarters of the high strength plate required for offshore platforms. The majority of all this steel was produced in Scotland.