To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what the current level of oil and gas production is in the British sector of the North sea; and for how long he expects the United Kingdom to maintain self-sufficiency.

Oil production from the United Kingdom continental shelf averaged 2·5 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 1988, while, according to provisional figures, gas production averaged 181·2 million cu m per day in the same period.On current estimates, the United Kingdom is likely to remain self-sufficient in oil and gas well into the 1990s.