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Dept of Trade and Industry

Answer

Jacqui Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the progress being made by United Kingdom offshore oil and gas producers and oil companies to deal with the millennium bug. [91663] Mr. Byers: DTI continues to fulfil the role of "responsible body" reporting to the Action 2000 National Infrastructure Forum on the preparations being made by the oil industry and UK's offshore oil and gas producers to avoid any disruption due to the Year 2000 threat to computer systems. At the National Infrastructure Forum meeting in January 1999, the industry attracted an overall "amber" assessment against the standard colour code adopted by Action 2000. I am pleased to report that WS Atkins Consultants Ltd. have confirmed that the industry continues to make substantial progress both onshore and offshore. In detail WS Atkins found that over 80 per cent. of the industry now merit a blue assessment (no identified risks of material disruption), and that the remainder are on track to attain that rating once work scheduled during the normal summer shutdown period has been completed, and residual contingency planning and external dependency issues had been finalised. The DTI has arranged for WS Atkins to carry out a further review at the end of September, to monitor progress on those outstanding issues and carry out a further programme of independent check visits to confirm that the scheduled work has been completed successfully. DTI will report on this work at the National Infrastructure Forum meeting in October 1999, and will continue to monitor the industry's progress throughout the millennium period. A summary of their report has been placed in the Libraries of the House, and copies have been made available on the DTI internet site.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

91663; 335 c208-9W

Session

1998-99

Subjects

Companies Oil Natural gas Millennium compliance Offshore industry Action 2000

Contains statistics

Yes