Laggan-Tormore imminent

FRENCH oil giant Total has said an article in a national newspaper claiming that its £3.3 billion Laggan/Tormore will come on stream this week was inaccurate.

The company is in the final stage of completing the complex project, which unlocks massive gas reserves to the west of Shetland.

Once pumped ashore via a pipeline the gas will be stabilised in the new Shetland Gas Plant before being pumped via a second pipeline to the Scottish mainland.

Originally planned to be operational by summer of last year, Total and its main contractor Petrofac have been plagued by delay after delay.

On Monday, a Total spokesman said the company was at the “tail end of a major project” and the target was to have first gas before the end of the year.

However, contrary to a claim in The Times, it was not going to happen this week, he said, adding that the start-up was imminent.