French oil giant Total has today officially started gas production from its Laggan-Tormore fields west of Shetland – 30 years after it was first discovered.
The gas will be piped to the recently completed gas plant on Shetland, some 75 miles away to the east, before a pipeline takes it to the mainland at the St. Fergus processing plant in Grampian and then southwards into the UK national gas grid.
This is expected to provide about 8% of the UK’s gas needs – the equivalent of about two million homes.
Arnaud Breuillac, Total’s president of exploration and production, said: “The innovative subsea-to-shore development concept, the first of its kind in the UK, has no offshore surface infrastructure and benefits from both improved safety performance and lower costs.
“By opening up this new production hub in the deep offshore waters of the west of Shetland, Total is also boosting the United Kingdom’s production capacity and Europe’s energy security.”
Fergus Ewing, Scottish Energy Minister, commented: “It is the success of large investment projects such as this which will see the Shetland Islands remain a key hub for oil and gas production in the North Sea
“Production from the North Sea as a whole is now increasing and cost efficiencies are being achieved. The Laggan and Tormore fields, which have a lifespan of 20 years, will provide a further boost to North Sea production.”
Pixie Energy is an incubator and a facilitator of strategic research and project work, focusing on energy regulation, policy and markets at the local and national level. Find out more about Pixie Energy