To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many exploration and appointed oil and gas wells were drilled in the United Kingdom continental shelf fin 1992; and what is his estimate of the number to be drilled in (a) 1993, (b) 1994 and (c) 1995.

Seventy two explorations and 57 appraisal wells were drilled in 1992. My Department does not publish forecasts for the number of wells. It does, however, conduct regular surveys of company plans for drilling wells looking up to two years ahead. The results of the last survey were published in the August 1992 issues of "Energy Trends", a copy of which is in the Library.