Written question asked by Lord Barker of Battle (Conservative) on Wednesday, 12 November 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 17 November 2008. It was answered by Mike O'Brien (Labour) on Thursday, 20 November 2008 on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

West of Shetland Taskforce Steering Group

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent steps have been taken by the West of Shetland Taskforce Steering Group; what assessment of its progress he has made; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: The west of Shetlands and west of Scotland represents a potential 17 per cent. of the UK's remaining oil and gas reserves. Getting the right infrastructure in place to capitalise on this area is of growing significance as we continue to meet the challenge of a secure and diverse energy supply.No one company or single field is sufficient to drive the building of this infrastructure and my Department established a Government/Industry Taskforce to seek a collective solution. The task force identified a number of options for new infrastructure and agreed an industry sponsored process to test the appetite for third party investment.An independent broker was contracted to approach a range of potential investors including UK Continental Shelf licensees with interests to the west of Shetland, utility companies and financial organisations. The process closed at the end of October. I understand that there has been interest expressed by a number of licensees beyond the co-sponsors of the third party process (the Laggan/Tormore field and Rosebank field partners.)It is now a matter for these interested licence groups to consider the options and establish the commercial arrangements necessary to bring forward development proposals for consideration by my Department. I am hopeful that we will see further technical work begin early in the new year that will lead to a development decision during 2009.

Secondary information