Jobs hope for Nigg yard

UP TO 2,000 jobs could be created at a mothballed Highland oil yard after a long-running battle over its use was resolved.

It was announced yesterday that Global Energy Group is the preferred bidder for the Nigg yard in Easter Ross, which is being earmarked as a major energy sector hub.

Efforts to reopen the yard, which once employed more than 5,000 people, have been thwarted for years by a wrangle over complex ownership issues and land-lease conditions.

Two-thirds of the 238-acre yard is owned by KBR, a US engineering and construction company, which also has a 30-year lease with the Wakelyn Trust, which owns 76 acres.

KBR recently pulled out of a potential 150 million plan to develop Nigg as a manufacturing base for the offshore renewables industry.

It is envisaged that Global will take over the yard by April after buying out KBR and securing a 60-year lease with the Wakelyn Trust. It will then start a major redevelopment of a key site in the Scottish Government's national renewable infrastructure plan.