Cluness hopes £500 million Total gas terminal deal will be signed on Thursday morning

Shetland Islands Council convener Sandy Cluness is hopeful a deal can be clinched with Total tomorrow morning to allow the oil company to site its £500 million gas terminal at Sullom Voe.

Following a day of negotiations between lawyers for both sides a Full Council meeting has been hastily arranged for 9am on Thursday to update councillors on the proposed lease agreement for using council-owned land.

Plans for a formal signing in Lerwick in the presence of UK energy minister Lord Hunt have been postponed but the government is still expected to make an official announcement about the £2.5 billion Laggan-Tormore project, which is of major national strategic importance in helping meet Britain’s energy needs.

There was confusion earlier on Wednesday afternoon when Total’s head office in Paris announced worldwide that the development was going ahead, despite the lack of an agreement with the council in Shetland and as yet no formal sign-off of the proposals by the Department of Energy and Climate Change.