Decommissioning work under way at Nigg oil terminal by the Cromarty Firth will bring down the curtain on the decades-old facility.
It is operated by North Sea energy firm Repsol Sinopec Resources UK (RSRUK).
Liberty Industrial was contracted to carry out a decommissioning project.
RSRUK has now confirmed that Liberty has started decontamination, demolition and site remediation work at the 75-acre Highlands facility.
The oil terminal was commissioned in 1981 by the British National Oil Corporation as part of the Beatrice oilfield development in the Moray Firth.
Beatrice supplied Nigg for 35 years before the field ceased production in 2016.
Decommissioning work at the terminal is expected to end in 2025, at which point the site will be handed back to leaseholder Global Energy Group (GEG).
Liberty is a deconstruction and remediation services firm based in Australia, with UK offices in Teesside.
The terminal sits a mile south-west of the village of Nigg and about 35 miles north-east of Inverness.
Global Energy Group
Inverness-based GEG, controlled by north entrepreneur Roy MacGregor, took over the long-term operation of the terminal jetty in 2020.
Its lease with Crown Estate Scotland followed a deal with RSRUK.
The facility is be operated as an extension to GEG’s neighbouring Port of Nigg, which services oil and gas, offshore renewables and other energy markets.
RSRUK continues to operate the main oil terminal and work towards final decommissioning of its facilities.
Announcing the start of work by Liberty at the site, RSRUK said: “Decommissioning activity has commenced as planned and we are in the process of ramping up activity.
“The Nigg decommissioning work represents a significant milestone in our company’s decommissioning journey, which we intend to deliver as cost-efficiently as possible, whilst minimising environmental impact.”
Conversation