News / SIC expects no gas plant income this year
SHETLAND Islands Council is not expecting to make any cash from Total’s new Shetland Gas Plant during the current financial year other than £111,000 in site rent.
The council’s harbour board heard on Tuesday afternoon that this financial year’s projected income of £1.43 million had been reduced by 92 per cent after officers were unable to get any reliable information from the oil company.
Financial officer Brenda Robb said there has been “no indication from Total that we can expect this income in this financial year”.
However, a spokesman for the French oil and gas giant said the £800 million project would soon be entering the commissioning phase, adding that full production was expected by the end of the year.
He said he was not in a position to comment on council reports but said that the plant was now 99 per cent complete and construction company Petrofac was in the process of handing the facility over to operator Total.
As part of the commissioning process every component of the plant is tested and gas production would only slowly built up over a number of months, he said.
Shetland Islands Council is expected to earn around £3 million a year once the gas plant is fully operational.
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