Part V Miscellaneous and General

Miscellaneous

42 Loans etc. to promote development of United Kingdom petroleum resources.

1

Where it appears to the Secretary of State expedient to do so for the purpose of facilitating or maintaining the development of the petroleum resources of the United Kingdom, he may with the approval of the Treasury—

a

make loans to an oil company on terms determined by him; or

b

guarantee on such terms the repayment of the principal of and the payment of interest on loans made to an oil company by another person.

2

Any sums required by the Secretary of State for the purposes of the preceding subsection shall be defrayed out of money provided by Parliament; but the aggregate amount for the time being outstanding in respect of the principal of loans made in pursuance of that subsection shall not exceed £50 million and the aggregate amount of the principal sums in respect of which guarantees in pursuance of that subsection are for the time being in force and of the payments on account of principal sums which have been made by the Secretary of State under such guarantees and not recovered by him shall not exceed a further £600 million.

3

Immediately after a loan is made or a guarantee is given in pursuance of subsection (1) of this section, the Secretary of State shall lay a statement relating to it before each House of Parliament; and where any sum is issued for fulfilling a guarantee so given the Secretary of State shall, as soon as possible after the end of each financial year (beginning with that in which the sum is issued and ending with that in which all liability in respect of the principal of the sum and in respect of interest thereon is finally discharged), lay before each House of Parliament a statement relating to that sum.

4

In subsection (1) of this section “oil company” means a body corporate which, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, has as its principal object—

a

the production or refining of petroleum or the production and refining of petroleum; or

b

the supplying of petroleum in a case where any of its other objects is one of those mentioned in the preceding paragraph.