Case studies

In October 2010, Total awarded Petrofac a £500m lump-sum engineering, procurement, supply, construction and commissioning contract to develop the new Shetland Gas Plant (SGP) which, when completed, will facilitate the transportation of gas from the Laggan and Tormore fields back to Total’s gas terminal at St Fergus, near Peterhead, Aberdeenshire.

Petrofac is executing the works and overseeing the development of the SGP through to its handover to Total in 2014.

Key facts

• the Laggan and Tormore gas fields are located in the northern North Sea, 125km north west of the Shetland Islands on the UK Continental Shelf, in approximately 600m water depth
• the plant will be made up of 62 modules, weighing between 21 and 380 tonnes, and will use 105 km of pipe and 1550 km of electrical and instrument cabling
• the mobilisation phase of the project began with the manufacture and construction of the modularised accommodation block – the Sella Ness Accommodation Facility. Sella Ness opened in July 2011 and can now accommodate up to 850 people working on the project
• the accommodation facility includes a shop, library, laundry, internet cafe, restaurant, gymnasium and bar, as well as a medical facility and five-a-side, all weather football pitch
• the construction of the work site facilities including offices, canteens and locker rooms were completed in December 2011 and are all now fully functioning
• the civil works scope, including permanent buildings and architectural work commenced in October 2011 with scheduled completion in Q4 2013
• first gas as per the contract is expected from the project in June 2014 

Training and competency

Petrofac has a robust training and competency programme for everyone who will be working on site which includes three separate induction programmes:

• job specific
• site specific
• health, safety and environment

This ensures that everyone on site conducts themselves in a safe and respectful manner and understands what is expected of them. 

Community

In parallel to the work on site, the project team has had significant engagement with the local Shetland community on a number of initiatives:

“We’ve been very proactive in partaking in activities such as beach clean-ups and the local ‘Up Helly Aa’ festival. We’ve sponsored the local charity ‘Dogs against Drugs’, the Shetland Schools Music Festival, The Tall Ships Races in Lerwick and in December hosted a Christmas lunch for 100 local elderly residents. We feel it’s crucial that we have a positive impact on the Shetland community and we’ll continue to build on our mutually beneficial relationship over the course of the project.” 

Alex Hosie, Project Director

As its first EPC contract in the UK, the SGP project represents an exciting milestone for Petrofac but it also illustrates Petrofac’s continued commitment to remaining an industry expert in the design and construction of oil and gas facilities, investing in and providing detailed services to the UK energy industry.