Oil & Gas UK Economic Report 2014

During the plant’s construction phase, a team of expert observers was employed to preserve the location’s onshore ecology. They developed a detailed picture of the onshore environment, which hosts otters in considerable numbers as well as breeding populations of birds of international significance, including red-throated divers and whimbrels. This work has resulted in direct, practical action in the form of bird nesting areas and ‘exclusion zones’ to protect natal holts – homes to female otters and their young during the weeks following birth. The final aspect of the environmental team’s activities was to identify and protect archaeological artefacts that could potentially be damaged during construction. Shetland has a rich archaeological heritage, which has not yet been as widely investigated as that of neighbouring Orkney, and it was considered essential to protect this at all costs. Among the finds was a Neolithic settlement, which archaeologists dismantled and examined stone by stone. This discovery will now be rebuilt in a purpose built facility near the gas plant, allowing people from Shetland and further afield to experience this amazing find. Total’s appreciation of the site’s archaeological potential ensured that surveys were always carried out before work started to identify potential discoveries. The company funded qualified archaeologists to carry out a watching brief at every working excavation to spot any archaeological finds as they were uncovered. This meant that, at any particular time, up to six archaeologists were working on the site, whatever the weather.

Over the years the islands have benefited from a charitable trust set up when the oil industry first arrived in the 1970s. A production levy is paid to the trust, which is then used to provide high quality services and infrastructure for the community. Total will pay a similar levy, directly to the Shetland Islands Council. Total has worked closely with schools in the area surrounding the gas plant. Junior road safety officers from all the local schools visit the site, so that the priority given to road safety can be demonstrated. The company has also sponsored 15 young people from Shetland to complete a fully funded oil and gas technician apprenticeship with OPITO, the oil industry’s training organisation. Laggan-Tormore’s gas will be exported south from Shetland by pipeline across the NNS to Total’s gas terminal at St Fergus, to the north of Aberdeen, and into the National Transmission System. Meanwhile, work continues with further exploration and the potential development of Total’s Edradour and Glenlivet fields. So already, the strategy of creating infrastructure to catalyse and facilitate further exploration is bearing fruit. By drawing on the company’s worldwide expertise, gas from WoS will now flow to the British mainland. Laggan-Tormore has been one of the most challenging and demanding development projects ever undertaken on the UKCS. Its imminent conclusion is a cause for celebration not only for Total, but for the whole industry and anyone who recognises the economic importance of oil and gas to the collective wellbeing of the UK.

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ECONOMIC REPORT 2014