Participation

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the UK government’s attempts to influence the domestic oil industry through the creation of a national oil company (NOC), the British National Oil Corporation (BNOC). Employing the methodology of Downs, Niskanen and Breton, the debate leading to the establishment of BNOC is analysed with specific reference to the bureaucratic and political pressures which have helped to determine the rôle of BNOC. The second section considers the function of BNOC after 1976 when its existence altered the framework of decision-making in the North Sea. The election of a Conservative Government in 1979 resulted in considerable speculation as to the future of BNOC; the final section of this chapter attempts to examine the conflicts of interest arising out of this change of administration and the implications with respect to the future rôle of BNOC. Thus the structure of this chapter tends to follow the stages of the government policy process from the perception of a political need for a policy to the implementation of that policy. The various factors affecting the policy process are not necessarily exclusive to each stage and each stage does not, of course, have a beginning and end which can be pinpointed to an exact time or event.