It was a red-letter day in St Fergus, Aberdeenshire 54 years ago, and not just because the sun was shining.
Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh, had arrived to carry out the formal opening of the St Fergus gas terminal.
It was a huge deal, locally, nationally and globally. The terminal cost £2.5bn, nearly £18bn today, and now receives around 25% of the UK’s gas.
The French company Total was the first to open a refinery on the site for the Frigg pipeline, and it was this that the Queen was opening.
The buzz started early on May 9, with several hundred people waiting at Aberdeen station to greet the Royal couple.
The Queen was greeted with flowers, flags, cheers and smiles at the station, reported the P&J.
The enthusiastic welcome continued along the route through Ellon and Peterhead to the village of St Fergus.
In Ellon, the crowds were three deep, and it was the same all at villages and farms all the way to Peterhead.
When the Royal party arrived at Total Oil Marine at St Fergus, there were more cheers and military music.
Appropriately there was a strong whiff of gas around the entrance to the Total sector as the Queen and Prince Philip, accompanied by the Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, Maitland Mackie and Grampian Region convener Sandy Mutch met officials of Grampian Region and Banff and Buchan District Council.
Prince Philip started wise-cracking
The smell of gas tickled the Duke of Edinburgh’s sense of humour.
The Duke gave a hearty laugh when it was explained to him that the small of gas was due to the odorising chemical added to the natural gas after it was transferred from the Total sector to the British Gas complex.
It was put in to protect consumers, as it was the only way of detecting gas without electronic equipment.
Prince Philip brought more humour to the proceedings in the British Gas control room while speaking to shift operator Ian Hamilton of Crimond and Peter Ashton of Fraserburgh.
He expressed surprise that there was only one of them normally on duty at one time and, said Peter: “He asked if we were wired up to keep us awake.”
Then he caused a few red faces in the British Gas control room when he spotted the only flaw in the electronic nerve centre.
He was shown one of the large, illuminated monitor boards and asked why one of the bulbs was not lit up.
Ian Hamilton had to answer that one.
The simple but slightly embarrassing answer was that a tiny light bulb had gone.
Ian said: “Imagine spotting the only dud bulb on the whole board.”
The Duke raised another laugh when in the Total processing area he asked Heather Murison, a 21 year old lab assistant from Peterhead whether she analysed the gas with her nose.
Heather replied that it was done mechanically.
Meanwhile the Queen was introduced to representatives of British Gas, Total Oil Marine and Elf Aquitaine.
Also present were Norway’s Minister of Energy and the French and Norwegian ambassadors to Britain.
Meeting Inspector James Beaton’s father
The Queen also met driver/handyman James Beaton of St Fergus.
It must have been an interesting conversation. Mr Beaton was the father of Inspector James Beaton, also accompanying the Royal party round the site.
Inauguration speech
In her inauguration speech, the Queen said the day marked both a beginning and an end.
“It marks the beginning of distribution by British Gas of natural gas brought by Total Oil Marine to St Fergus from the Frigg gas field, though 200 miles of pipeline in the North Sea.
“It also marks the successful conclusion of what must rate as one of the most complex engineering projects ever undertaken.”
She praised everyone who contributed to the success of the project and said that credit was due to the men and women who bring the gas some 6000ft up out of the earth under the sea and deliver it to the 14,000,000 industrial, commercial and domestic consumers.
Wise words from the Queen
But she had a note of caution all the more relevant today:
“Everyone now realises that this new source of wealth is not going to get us out of all our immediate difficulties.
“It is of course invaluable but it is a non-renewable source of energy and if we are to meet our responsibilities for future generations, at least some of this wealth will have to be re-invested for the benefit of those who come after us.”
More from our On This Day series:
1974: The Buchan bodyguard hero who took three bullets for Princess Anne
1979: Tain fishers rescue F1-11 pilots after crash over Dornoch Firth
