Up to 500 new jobs will be created in the Shetland Islands, following an announcement yesterday that French oil giant Total intends to build a gas processing plant on the island. 

The contract to build the new plant has been awarded to FTSE 100 oil services company Petrofac. Construction will begin next year.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Petrofac told Recruiter: “The project will require from 200 to 800 people at its peak, with around 500 UK-based jobs created primarily to support the construction phase of the project. This recruitment will be carried out in 2011.

“The recruitment will be carried out within the UK. We committed that this was to be a UK-based project that would benefit UK-based businesses and the wider UK economy. The recruitment carried out by Petrofac will be done through Atlantic Resourcing.”

Petrofac says it estimates that around 25% of these jobs will be contracted by Petrofac directly and the remainder of the jobs will be with its sub-contractors who will be experienced in working in the Highlands and Islands and Shetland specifically.

Bill Dunnett, managing director of Petrofac’s offshore engineering division, told The Timesthat once the plant is up and running in 2014 only 60 to 70 staff would be required.