asked the Secretary of State for Trade what is the difference between the United States of America and the United Kingdom price of crude oil in £ sterling per tonne after taking into account the price of United States imports and the fall in the real exchange rate between the £ sterling and the United States dollar since the fourth quarter of 1976.

I have been asked to reply.The information attached is the average price of crude oil, to the refiner, in the United Kingdom and the United States quoted in £ per tonne. For both countries the price is a weighted average of imported and domestically produced oil.