Public funding will support the third phase of Veri Energy’s planned clean fuels hub at Sullom Voe, which would make hydrogen and e-methanol for a proposed Grangemouth aviation fuel plant.
The Scottish Government will put almost £760,000 into a clean fuels hub at Sullom Voe Terminal (SVT) in Shetland. Energy minister Stephen Gethins announced the money before a visit to the site.
Veri Energy, the EnQuest subsidiary running SVT’s shift away from fossil fuels, receives the funding for the third phase of the project. Phases one and two cost £2.2 million, paid by Veri Energy and the Net Zero Technology Centre. The award moves the hub through early development rather than construction.
The hub is due to start operating by 2030. It would produce hydrogen and e-methanol, with capacity scaling up through the following decade. The plan turns a legacy oil terminal into a site for low-carbon fuel manufacturing, using the existing industrial base and grid connections at Sullom Voe.
The e-methanol is intended to supply a proposed sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant at the former refinery site at Grangemouth. Shetland News reported earlier this year that the wider e-fuels project would need around £300 million of investment.
“Sullom Voe Terminal is a crucial part of Scotland’s industrial landscape,” said Gethins. He said the government’s contribution supports Veri Energy “as it continues to develop its ambitious plans for a clean fuels hub”. Veri Energy chief executive Gavin Templeton called the support “a strong endorsement of the strategic opportunity at Sullom Voe”.
The government said the work will retain and retrain skilled oil and gas workers, support local businesses and build clean fuels manufacturing expertise in Scotland. Veri Energy was previously awarded more than £1.7 million by the UK Government for a study into a green hydrogen plant at the terminal.
The project links two of Scotland’s harder industrial questions: what to do with ageing North Sea oil infrastructure, and how to supply low-carbon fuel to aviation. Veri has said biogenic CO2 from the process could also feed e-fuel production, tightening the loop between the hub and downstream fuel plants.
The award is small against the roughly £300 million the full project may need. Its role is to keep the hub moving and hold Shetland’s energy workforce in place. Progress from here depends on larger private and public backing, and on firm demand from the planned Grangemouth fuel plant.
