Kishorn

Kishorn

The deserted oil rig fabrication yard at Kishorn, in the West Highlands. They built the largest concrete structure in the world in the 1970s, when the oil industry was at its peak in Scotland.

Many of the oil yards in now lie empty. There is talk of new birth now, as the oil companies start to drill deeper still, exploiting the oil fields to the north and west of the Hebrides.

Although many in the islands would welcome the oil dollar again, there is a growing awareness that the energy potential in the Hebrides might not lie in its fossil fuel reserves, but in the renewable energy from wind and water.

Arnish Oil Fabrication Yard

Men working at Arnish

Many men in the Hebrides are skilled engineers, as they have worked around the world in the merchant navy and in the oil industry.

Pictured in 1998, these men were using their skills on the island, building massive steel piles for the North Sea. Arnish oil fabrication yard in Stornoway employed many men and produced qualilty heavy engineering work for the oil industry but it’s now closed. Most of the men now hunt for jobs away from their Island home.

There is speculation that the yard may be re-opened but this time to build turbines for a new, ambitious wind farm project in Lewis.