It receives and processes crude oil delivered by a subsea pipeline from the Piper, Claymore, Tartan and Golden Eagle platforms and associated fields.

The terminal includes facilities for exporting stabilised crude oil (and formerly liquefied petroleum gases) by tanker.

[1] Occidental considered a number of options for exporting oil from the planned installations, these included offshore loading and pipelines to shore.

[1] The terminal (coordinates 58° 20’ 22” N 03° 06’ 24” W) received ‘live’ crude oil from Piper Alpha via a 125-mile (210 km) 30-inch diameter trunk pipeline.

Phase 2, to accommodate the processing of oil from the Claymore field, was granted in summer 1976 and entailed additional plant and tanks.

[2] Phase 1 of the development of the Flotta terminal included:[1] The engineering, procurement and construction was undertaken by Bechtel International Limited.

Permission was granted to extend the plant (phase 2) in summer 1976 to accommodate the additional flow of crude oil exported from Claymore via the Piper to Flotta pipeline.

[5] Live crude oil from the Piper to Flotta pipeline is routed to one or more of the four 125,000 barrels/day stabiliser trains.

The methane and ethane are removed from the top of the vessel and used as fuel gas with the surplus burned in the flare.

Propane from the top of the de-propaniser was chilled and liquefied and stored at –40 °C in two 100,000 barrel capacity insulated tanks.

[5] Stabilised crude oil from the storage tanks was routed via 48-inch diameter lines to either of the single point moorings (SPM) in Scapa Flow or to the jetty.

It was treated in a floatation unit before discharge via a 1.5 mile 36-inch diameter pipeline into the turbulent waters of the Pentland Firth to aid dispersal.

[2] Following the Piper Alpha disaster in July 1988 Elf Enterprises Caledonia Limited and its partners assumed ownership of the pipeline and the Flotta terminal.