Energy / Total confirms investment in mercury removal plant
OIL company Shell may have pulled out of the hot political potato that Cambo has become but investment in the oil and gas infrastructure on and off Shetland continues.
Total Energies, the operator of the Shetland Gas Plant, has confirmed it is now looking at constructing a gas mercury removal unit at the facility.
The project had been shelved in 2017 due a decision not to develop the Glendronach gas field west of Shetland due to the high levels of mercury in the gas resource and the low gas price at the time, but it is now back on.
According to the Oil and Gas Authority’s (OGA) pathfinder webpage, the company is seeking tenders for the mercury removal plant as well as for a subsea tie-back for Glendronach to link the gas field to existing infrastructure, part of the Edradour gas field.
Both contracts are expected to be worth no more than £25 million each.
Glendronach lies around 20 miles east of the Laggan gas field, one of the major finds that triggered the construction of the Shetland Gas Plant and associated infrastructure.
A spokesperson for Total Energies said the company had at this time nothing more to add other than what has been published on the OGA website.
Meanwhile, it is understood that a decision on the future of the export route for Clair oil has still not been reached.
Negotiations between BP and EnQuest, operator of the Sullom Voe Terminal since 2018, over the terms of continuing to export Clair oil via an existing pipeline have been ongoing since early 2019.
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