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What could London do on such a soiU·
ot•on? The scenario surs up unpleasant
memones of the sttll unresolved Rho–
dosoa problem - but thos tome roght on
England s doorstep
Threat of Pollution
01
lesser sognolocance pohtocally and
aconomocally. yet on human and acolog–
ical terms of great sor•ousness. •s the
lhreat ol oil-borne pollulo n ol tha North
Sea and ots British and contonental
coastlines
ThiS issue has. to date. been little
publtctzed Ye1
11
connot be tgnored
Prospectong and drollong os takong place
on
some
olthe most storm-tossed waters
onearth
The Nonh S..a os a prolofoc foshong
1one lts waters wash rhe enr.re east
coast of Bntam and thousands or miles
of European coasthne. A major accident
could result in
a
catastropho of national
and even internauonal proporllons
Yet critics olthe North Sea operations
claom that very httla has been done to
saleguard agaonst such accodents A
·u
K
olfshore operatoons and emer–
gency actoon group· hes becn set up
1oontly by the ool companoes on coopera·
uon woth the Oepanment of Trada and
lndus1ry. But ol what use os 22.000 gal–
lons ol dospersano storod on the Shetland
lslands and at Aberdoon ogaonso
a
major
oil platlorm calamoty?
' 11
the costs and benofots of drilling
lor O<l on the Nonh Soa aro oxamoned
honest1y.
· ·
reporls Or Norman Sanders
8sststant professor of geography at the
UniVersA.'Y of Cehforn.a n lS
pla•n
that
the ool should be left on place untol olf–
shore d11lhng and spoll control tech·
nology are better doveloped . Roght now
1t
•s a cenamty that Otl w11t sp•ll
·
Dangers also arose frorn tha politocally
" The notion that North Sea oil
wi/1 save Britain is perhaps one
in a long series of evasions of
reality used by this country to
avoid confronting th11 harsh econo–
mic problem of competition in
the modern world."
unstable nature of today
s
•nternattonal
scene The giant
011
rogs would be easy
targets for well-organozed 1 R A Arab.
Of
other terronst groups Welt aware of
thos possibility. the governmant has Or·
dered the constructoon of !ove new 900-
ton armed vessels lor the Royal Navy to
patrol and help protect the olfshore in–
stallations The Royal Aor Force will also
fly special patrols ovor the rigs. These.
however .
are stnct ly peacetime
safeguards. Wanome protectoon would
be lar more dolfocult, and NATO recontly
comm•tted rtself toa share rn the protec·
uon role in the event of tntemattooal
hosttlit•es.
State Ownership end
Taxation
The onherent problems ahead lor
North Sea oil developmont are consid·
orable. But what of present progress? ls
the program on schedule to meet gov-
WEEK ENOING MAROI 22. 1975
ernment hopos of solf-sulfocoency on ool
by 1980?
Several factors have arisen '" the last
year to cast a shadow
over
these pros·
pects Thos wonter though one of tho
m•ldest on
record.
proved
parttcularly
treacherous on the Nonh S..a where
there was lottla respite trom galo-force
wmds
ond
feroc•ous
seas.
Resuhant
set·
backs on tho umotable - someumas of
severa!
months -
were inevitable ond
costly
But on top ol thos have come thO
problems of
govemmental
entenuon as
to the extent of state control ol the ool
helds and the level ol taxatoon
Feanng burdensome government ln–
terventoon, many of the goant ool com·
panoes developong the Brotosh sector ol
the North Sea have slowed down theor
oporatoon They reason that ol the rato of
polrotourn revenue tax dccodcd upon by
the governmont were set too hogh it
would prohobot the economoc devel·
opmont of certaon ol the margonal o•l
foelds
As
a
result the North Sea ool en
terprose on Brotosh waters has probably
been sot
back
by months
The petrofeum
revenue
tax
wa.s
'"
lact. recently docoded upon at a rete of
45
porcent a rata considerably more
favorable
10 the orl
compan•es than
pro–
voously oxpected On top of thos. sul·
f1ctent
snfoouords are to be
given 10
ensure the economical development of
the margonal foelds. and a safety nct os
planned on caso ol a collapse on the price
of world ool But the factor of a probable
51
percent monopoly state ownershop
rema•ns
ThOt the government onsosts on takong
a ma¡oroty share os bad enough on the
oyes of tho oil lorms. What os worso os
the fact that tha govemment hopos to
put up tho massive capual sum for thos
share,
not
111
advance.
bu1 lator, on an
onstallment basos from i ts share of tho
crudo o•l
production .
Undorstandably. the ool companoes
are lar lrom happy woth these proposals
and can be expected to bargaon hard
ovar tho hnal detads
Bonanza or Bust?
At present then, Brotain"s North Sea
ool program does not appear to be quote
tho bonanza it was lorst thought But
there is no doubt that Nonh Sea ool os
still a real shot· tn·the-arm
to the nauon·s
othorw•se desp&irtng economic pros·
pects
Lord Robens Chaorman ol Vockers
and a formar chaorman ol the Natoonal
Coal Board. put
11
thos way '"Thero os no
more expensovo enorgy than the onergy
you haven t got · In ohese tomes North
Sea ool os a formidable asset whoch could
freo Brotain lrom dependence upon the
OPEC natoons for ots energy supploes
But tha question remai ns: Will Britaon
adapt her industrial, fiscal and rego nnl
pohc•es wisely to hofd her own
1n
antic•·
pauon of the
day
when she does be·
come self.suffietent m od? Or
w1ll
she
cont•nue 1n her
present
dangerous
eco–
nomoc course. lulled onto complaoency.
thonkong North Sea oil will be the means
of hor salvato n no matter what polocoes
she lollows in the meantime7
lf
the lattor be true. then the Nonh
Sea d•scoverics could turn out to be.
'"
lhe words of tha
Sunday
Times.
" Brot·
aon' s Botched Bonanza." O
9