Nigg for sale

American defence contractor Halliburton is selling its controversial offshore facility in the north of Scotland. Its UK subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), confirmed it had put the site at Nigg in the Highlands up for sale and had already received an undisclosed offer from a consortium of local property developers, backed by Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Highland Council.

Edinburgh selling agent DTZ claims there will be “strong interest” in the 220-acre site, which has been mothballed for several years, after it is marketed internationally. A KBR spokesman said “We wouldn?t just accept the first offer. There is very little in the way of new installations being built for the North Sea, but KBR think the site will be of international interest – there are a number of uses it could be put to.”

The news comes days after fears were quelled that work on a £3 billion Ministry of Defence (MoD) aircraft carrier project would go to the Ross-shire site, threatening huge job losses at Rosyth in Fife. The MoD announced last week that KBR had been selected as “physical integrator” for the project to build two Royal Navy aircraft carriers. But the firm?s role was scaled back after alliance partner BAE Systems, Britain?s largest defence contractor, threatened to quit.

It expressed concerns that KBR could use the role to lobby for the 60,000 tonne aircraft carriers to be assembled at Nigg. More than 1,000 jobs at Babcock?s Rosyth shipyard, which had always been expected to undertake the work, are dependent on the contract.

The KBR spokesman said that the sale was unconnected to the company?s redefined role in the project.