ABSTRACT
Peterhead has two assets which made it attractive to the oil industries; its location and its harbour. The northeasterly corner of Scotland offered the best mainland landfall for the Frigg and Brent gas fields 380 and 520 kilometres to the northeast and the closest landfall for the Forties oil field, 185 kilometres to the east. The gas fields are closer to the Shetlands and to Norway. Norway was thought to be impossible because of the deep ocean trench off the Norwegian coast – across which not even Norway’s share of Frigg could be carried. Peterhead’s proximity to oil and gas fields did not make its harbour an obvious choice given the space and services available in Aberdeen 42 kilometres to the south. At the beginning of 1975 Site Preparations took the Secretary of State to court, accusing him of stealing their plans for the Harbour of Refuge and land nearby.
