Power

In these two interesting sources men who were involved in the negotiations between the local council in Shetland and the oil companies talk about the determination of both sides to achieve the best deal for the people they represented.

The oil companies needed somewhere closer than mainland Scotland to use as a distribution base for the oil being pumped from the rigs so the Shetlanders were well placed to bargain for the land. But it also demanded courage to take on the huge multinational companies.

In the first source the oil company admits that it was a mistake to attempt to force the Shetlanders to give them what the oil company wanted. In the second, this representative of the Shetlanders describes the negotiations with the oil companies from his point of view.

BBC Radio Scotland series 'The Story of North Sea Oil' (1999)

Basil Butler

Basil Butler of British Petroleum (BP)

"The companies were ready, to come into Shetland, they had to accommodate what was required by the council otherwise they weren't going to get the terminal built. The biggest mistake on our side was blundering in at the very beginning with an air of arrogance and feeling we could just ride over the Shetland islanders without any discussion or debate. It was absolute nonsense, of course, and I think that had to be changed."

Ian Clarke Shetland Island Council leader

"We were called down to a meeting in Shell Centre and they told us that they had done all their calculations and, on the basis of what we were demanding, they couldn't afford to come to Shetland and that they were going to the mainland of Scotland. My response to that was to say to them that it was a very happy day. I wanted to begin by congratulating them on their technical expertise that they could take the gas and the crude to the mainland of Scotland . Secondly, since our previous discussions had seldom been happy ones, when we went back to Shetland and gave them this news, we would be heroes indeed. And we got up and walked towards the door. And physically were put back in our chairs and told 'We've got to come to Shetland.' So that was another wee piece of pressure which really didn't quite work for them. And it was at that stage we realised we really had won the battle."

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