Schiehallion shut down again

OIL company BP confirmed on Wednesday that production at their Schiehallion field west of Shetland was temporarily shut down while essential maintenance work is being carried out.

The unscheduled work comes only weeks after Schiehallion restarted production following months of maintenance work this summer.

BP said last night it was unable to say why and for how long the floating storage production and offloading vessel (FSPO) would be out of action.

A spokesman added that the work had nothing to do with the shuttle tanker Loch Rannoch which after months of helping out in the Gulf of Mexico clean-up had now to be taken out of service for a routine inspection.

The issue created some confusion at Wednesday’s harbour board meeting, when neither harbourmaster Roger Moore nor board chairman Alastair Cooper were able to explain what was happening.

The temporary loss of Schiehallion oil coming in to Sullom Voe Terminal has a significant impact on the port’s income, which these days amounts to 40 per cent from the Schiehallion traffic.

The BP spokesman said: “The Schiehallion FSPO has temporarily shut in to allow for essential maintenance.”

Schiehallion was out of action for five months until last February after an accident involving the Loch Rannoch damaging the main hose reel for unloading oil onto the shuttle tanker.