Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Stephen Crabb (Conservative). It was answered by David Kidney (Labour) on Thursday, 25 February 2010 on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Oil Refining

Question: What recent discussions he has had with the petroleum industry on capacity reductions in the oil refining sector.

Answer: The UK operates a market-based approach to the supply of refined products, and it is therefore a matter for individual companies to determine how best to meet their customer demand and what level of refining capacity is needed to do that. However, my Department has an ongoing dialogue with the UK downstream oil sector, including the oil refining industry as represented by the UK Petroleum Industry Association. As part of that dialogue, we recently commissioned and published a report by respected independent consultants on the UK downstream oil infrastructure.

Secondary information