The St Fergus Gas Terminal is a large gas terminal found near

St Fergus St Fergus is a village in the Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. St Fergus lies from the North Sea coast and north-west of Peterhead. The Parish of St Fergus includes the remains of Inverugie Castle and Ravenscraig Castle. The church in ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The other main UK gas terminals are at

Bacton, Norfolk Bacton is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is on the Norfolk coast, some south-east of Cromer, north-west of Great Yarmouth and north of Norwich. Besides the village of Bacton, the parish includes the nearby settlements of B ...

and the

Easington, East Riding of Yorkshire Easington is a small village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in the area known as Holderness. A coastal settlement, it is situated between the Humber estuary and the North Sea at the south-eastern corner of the county ...

History

The plant was initially developed by British Gas (now National Grid) and Total Oil Marine. The three main plants have three main pipelines each coming ashore. The National Grid plant receives gas from the other main three plants. In total, St Fergus receives around 25% of the UK's gas. The land was purchased from the historical Mess family of St. Fergus

Total

The Total part of the refinery opened in September 1977 for the Frigg pipeline, with another section opening in 1978 for the

Vesterled Vesterled is a natural gas pipeline system, which runs from the Heimdal field ( Heimdal Riser platform) in the North Sea to St Fergus Gas Plant near Peterhead in Scotland. The name ''Vesterled'' is the term used by the Vikings for their westward ...

pipeline. The

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

opened this plant officially on May 9, 1978. Vesterled is owned by the Gassled partners.

Shell

The Shell plant opened in April 1982, being officially opened by

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

in October 1982, taking gas from the Brent field, via the

FLAGS A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic desi ...

pipeline. Gas came from the

Fulmar The fulmars are tubenosed seabirds of the family Procellariidae. The family consists of two extant species and two extinct fossil species from the Miocene. Fulmars superficially resemble gulls, but are readily distinguished by their flight on ...

field in July 1987, via the Fulmar Gas Pipeline, and from the

Goldeneye ''GoldenEye'' is a 1995 spy film, the seventeenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Martin Campbell, it was the first in the ser ...

br>field
in October 2004.

Apache

This plant uses the SAGE pipeline from the

Brae :''"Brae" is also the Lowland Scots language word for the slope or brow of a hill.'' Brae (Old Norse: ''Breiðeið'', meaning "the wide isthmus") is a village on the island of Mainland in Shetland, Scotland, United Kingdom. Description Brae wa ...

gas field. The plant also has two other main pipelines: Atlantic, Cromarty and the Britannia pipelines.

Operation

The purpose of the receiving plants are to clean the delivered gas and present the

Methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Eart ...

content to the adjacent

British Gas British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving ...

plant.

National Grid

This is connected to the

National Transmission System The United Kingdom's National Transmission System (NTS) is the network of gas pipelines that supply gas to about forty power stations and large industrial users from natural gas terminals situated on the coast, and to gas distribution companies th ...

which transports to the rest of Scotland via

Kirriemuir Kirriemuir, sometimes called Kirrie or the ''Wee Red Toon'' ( gd, An Ceathramh Mòr; IPA: nˈkʰʲɛɾəvmoːɾ, is a burgh in Angus, Scotland. It reaches back to earliest recorded times, when it is thought to have been a major ecclesiastical ...

Angus Angus may refer to: Media * ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film * ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record'' Places Australia * Angus, New South Wales Canada * Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario * East Angus, Quebec Scotland * An ...

, then on to

Bathgate Bathgate ( sco, Bathket or , gd, Both Chèit) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway (Scotland), M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Armadale, West Lothian, Armadale, Blackburn, ...

West Lothian West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its shires of Scotland, historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geogra ...

Shell

Thi
plant
has a capacity of around 33 Mm SCM/ d for the FLAGS line and 10 Mm SCM/d for the Fulmar Gas Line. It produces 23.25 Mm scu m/d of gas to the British Gas plant and exports 8,750 tonnes of liquid products to

Mossmorran The Mossmorran Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) plant is part of the northern North Sea Brent oil and gas field system and is located on the outskirts of Cowdenbeath, Scotland. The Mossmorran facilities comprise two plants: the Fife NGL Plant operated ...

Total

This plant receives gas from twenty gas fields (including Alwyn, Miller, Bruce and most recently Rhum) and produces 20% of the UK's gas needs. It is the largest plant on the whole site. Until 1987, gas only came from the Frigg field, and production from this field finished in October 2004. Gas is transported to the TOTAL plant by the Frigg pipeline, which it owns. Total operates as Total E & P UK plc which is based in Aberdeen and is the fourth largest oil & gas operator in the North Sea.

Esso

There is also an adjacent plant operated by

ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

. It receives its gas via the

SAGE pipeline Sage or SAGE may refer to: Plants * ''Salvia officinalis'', common sage, a small evergreen subshrub used as a culinary herb ** Lamiaceae, a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint or deadnettle or sage family ** ''Salvia'', a large ...

, which mostly follows the Miller pipeline, to the SAGE Terminal (Scottish Area Gas Evacuation). Esso operates at the plant as Mobil North Sea LLC.

Products

Ethane Ethane ( , ) is an organic chemical compound with chemical formula . At standard temperature and pressure, ethane is a colorless, odorless gas. Like many hydrocarbons, ethane is isolated on an industrial scale from natural gas and as a petr ...

Propane Propane () is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used a ...

and heavier products are separated and sent onward to further plants located at

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

(owned by Shell) and

Cruden Bay Cruden Bay is a small village in Scotland, on the north coast of the Bay of Cruden in Aberdeenshire, north of Aberdeen. Just west of New Slains Castle, Slains Castle, Cruden Bay is said to have been the site of a Battle of Cruden Bay, battle in ...

(owned by BP). Separation is by a

cryogenic In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures. The 13th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington DC in 1971) endorsed a universal definition of “cryogenics” and “cr ...

process. For the Fulmar Gas Pipeline, a gas de-sulphurisation plant is used to remove

hydrogen sulphide Hydrogen sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is poisonous, corrosive, and flammable, with trace amounts in ambient atmosphere having a characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. The unde ...

and reduce the water content.

Security

To prevent terrorism the site i
protected
24 hours a day by armed police guard

Shell gas fields

Bittern

Discovered in June 1996 with production starting in April 2000. Mostly an oil field. Gas transported via the Fulmar Gas Pipeline.

Brent

Mostly an Brent oilfield, oil field. Discovered in July 1971, with production starting in November 1976. Very large gas field. Gas transported via the

pipeline.

Curlew D

Discovered in May 1990, with production starting in November 1997. Mainly an oil field, with the associated Curlew B field. Named after the

Curlew The curlews () are a group of nine species of birds in the genus ''Numenius'', characterised by their long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. The English name is imitative of the Eurasian curlew's call, but may have been in ...

bird. Gas transported via the Fulmar Gas Pipeline.

Fulmar

Named after the

bird. Discovered in December 1975, with production starting in February 1982. Gives its name to the Fulmar Gas Pipeline. Mainly an

oil field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...

. Currently operated by Repsol Sinopec.

Goldeneye

Discovered in September 1996. Unmanned

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

Nelson

Originally operated by

Enterprise Oil Enterprise Oil was a major UK independent exploration and production company based in Europe, with core areas of activity in the United Kingdom and Ireland, mainland Europe, Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico. The Company was once a constituent of the ...

, and mainly an oil field. Discovered in March 1988, with production starting in February 1994. Gas transported via Kittiwake and through the Fulmar Gas Pipeline.

Total gas fields

Alwyn North

Also an oil field. Discovered in October 1975, with production starting in December 1987. Gas transported via Frigg pipeline.

Dunbar

Also an oil field. Discovered November 1973, with production starting in December 1994. Gas transported via Frigg pipeline.

Ellon

Discovered in October 1973, with production starting in December 1994. Gas transported via Alwyn and the Frigg pipeline.

Grant

Discovered in August 1977 with production starting in July 1998. Gas transported via Dunbar and Alwyn and then the Frigg pipeline.

Nuggets

Discovered in July 1994. Production started in 2002. Full name is the Northern Underwater Gas Gathering Export and Treatment System.

Apache gas fields

Beryl

Beryl A Beryl ( ) is a mineral composed of beryllium aluminium silicate with the chemical formula Be3Al2Si6O18. Well-known varieties of beryl include emerald and aquamarine. Naturally occurring, hexagonal crystals of beryl can be up to several met ...

(alpha) was discovered in September 1972, and Beryl B (bravo) in May 1975. Production began for Beryl A in June 1976, and for Beryl B in July 1984. Gas is transported via the SAGE pipeline.

Skene

Also an oil field. Discovered in 1976, with production starting in February 2002. Also an oil field. Named after the Clan Skene. Gas transported via the SAGE pipeline.

BP gas fields

Bruce

Discovered in July 1974 with production starting in August 1993. Also an oil field. Gas transported via the Frigg pipeline. Large gas field.

Magnus

Also an oil field. Discovered in July 1974, with production beginning in August 1983. Gas transported via the

and Northern Leg pipelines.

Miller

Also an

. Discovered March 1983, with production starting in June 1992. Gas transported eventually to Peterhead power station at Boddam via the Miller Transportation System which goes to the Total terminal. Ceased production in 2007.

ConocoPhillips gas fields

Britannia

Discovered in September 1975, with production starting in August 1998. Operated by ConocoPhillips. Pipeline to SAGE Terminal at St Fergus. This field was originally licensed to Britannia Oil Company Ltd, it was formerly named Bosun after the Bosun sandstone trend. Chevron was the operator of Block 16/26 which they named Kilda, and Conoco operated the neighbouring Block 15/30 named Lapworth. They eventually realised the field encompassed all these finds and it was renamed Britannia because of its scale.

Statoil gas fields

Operated by the Norwegian

Statoil Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian state owned enterprise, state-owned multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger. It is primarily a petroleum company, petroleum company, operating in 36 countries with ad ...

company.

Statfjord

Originally operated by Mobil. Discovered in February 1975, with production starting in November 1979. Gas transported by the FLAGS system, and also some to

Kårstø Kårstø is an industrial facility located near the village of Susort, along the Boknafjorden, in the municipality of Tysvær in Rogaland county, Norway. The site features a number of natural gas processing plants that refine natural gas and con ...

in Norway. Also an

Canadian Natural Resources gas fields

Kyle

Also an oil field. Operated by

Canadian Natural Resources Limited Canadian Natural Resources Limited, or CNRL or Canadian Natural is a senior Canadian oil and natural gas company that operates primarily in the Western Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, with offshore op ...

, trading as CNR International (UK) Ltd. Discovered in August 1993, with production beginning in March 2001.

Petro-Canada gas fields

Guillemot West & Guillemot Northwest

Guillemot West discovered in October 1979 and Guillemot Northwest discovered in July 1985. Production started in April 2000. Operated by Petro-Canada, although previously operated by Veba Oil. Gas transported via the Frigg system (FGL).

Britannia Operator Ltd gas fields

Britannia

Owned mostly by Chevron and ConocoPhillips. Discovered in September 1975 with production starting in August 1998. Gas transported via the SAGE pipeline. Very large gas field.

Marathon gas fields

Operated by

Marathon Oil Marathon Oil Corporation is an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration incorporated in Ohio and headquartered in the Marathon Oil Tower in Houston, Texas. A direct descendant of Standard Oil, it also runs international gas operations ...

Beinn

Discovered in November 1989 with production starting in February 1994. Beinn means ''mountain'' in Gaelic. Also an oil field. Gas transported via the SAGE pipeline.

Brae

Mainly an

. Discovered from 1975-7, with production starting in 1983 and 1988-9. Gas transported via the SAGE pipeline. Brae is also Gaelic for ''hill''.

Talisman gas fields

These fields are operated by

Talisman Energy Talisman Energy Inc. was a Canadian independent petroleum company that existed between 1993 and 2015. The company was created from the assets of BP Canada after British Petroleum divested its 57 percent stake in June 1992. It was one of Canada ...

Galley

Discovered in October 1974 with production starting in March 1998. Also an oil field. Gas transported via the Tartan platform and the Frigg pipeline.

Orion

Discovered in September 1971 with production starting in September 1999. also an oil field, with gas transported via the Fulmar Gas Pipeline.

Piper

Discovered in January 1973 with production starting in December 1976. Mostly an

. Gas transported via the Frigg pipeline.

Tartan

Discovered in January 1975, with production starting in January 1981. Gas transported via the Frigg pipeline. Mainly an oil field.

Canadian Natural Resources International (CNRi)

Strathspey

Originally operated by

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Indepe ...

. Discovered in March 1975, with production starting in December 1993. Gas transported via the

pipeline.

References

Gas fields

Alwyn North

Beryl

Britannia

Bruce

Curlew

Dunbar

Dunbar/Ellon

Forvie/Grant

Goldeneye

Magnus

NUGGETS

Nuggets

Otter

News items

Investment by Shell in April 2007
{{Scottish energy North Sea energy Natural gas plants Natural gas terminals Oil and gas industry in Scotland TotalEnergies Shell plc buildings and structures ExxonMobil buildings and structures Natural gas infrastructure in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures in Aberdeenshire Buildings and structures completed in 1978 Environment of Aberdeenshire

History

Total

Shell

Apache

Operation

National Grid

Shell

Total

Esso

Products

Security

Shell gas fields

Bittern

Brent

Curlew D

Fulmar

Goldeneye

Nelson

Total gas fields

Alwyn North

Dunbar

Ellon

Grant

Nuggets

Apache gas fields

Beryl

Skene

BP gas fields

Bruce

Magnus

Miller

ConocoPhillips gas fields

Britannia

Statoil gas fields

Statfjord

Canadian Natural Resources gas fields

Kyle

Petro-Canada gas fields

Guillemot West & Guillemot Northwest

Britannia Operator Ltd gas fields

Britannia

Marathon gas fields

Beinn

Brae

Talisman gas fields

Galley

Orion

Piper

Tartan

Canadian Natural Resources International (CNRi)

Strathspey

See also

References

External links

Gas fields

News items