THE Shetland Isles can easily accommodate the hundreds of workers who will flood into the area as booming investment in oil and gas stokes demand for skilled workers, according to a senior councillor.

Alastair Cooper said Shetland is well placed to cope with the massive influx of people who will be required to help oil and gas firms fulfil their ambitions to develop a series of bumper projects offshore.

"We are pretty flexible and we rise to the occasion," Mr Cooper told journalists while highlighting the appeal of the islands as a destination for investment and talent.

The chairman of the Development Committee of Shetland Islands Council, Mr Cooper will be aware some people may doubt whether the remote islands can provide the support that firms like BP and Shell require in their efforts to realise the potential of huge new developments like Clair Ridge west of Shetland.

This will involve them recruiting many people to work on and off the islands, which have a total population of about 23,000.

Only last week BP said about 500 jobs could be created at the sprawling Sullom Voe processing and storage terminal on the Shetland mainland over the next three years.

A camp may have to be built to accommodate about 400 construction and engineering workers.

But Mr Cooper shrugged off concerns about the islands' ability to absorb such developments.

Mr Cooper said there was plenty of land to build on the Shetland Isles, whose administration has shown a willingness to take an accommodating approach to planning issues.

He noted Total was developing a huge plant next to Sullom Voe to handle gas from the Laggan-Tormore fields west of Shetland.

Many of the people working on the development are being put up in a floating accommodation unit, or floatel, moored in Lerwick harbour.

There are other signs the surge in oil and gas activity west of Shetland is already having a big impact.

BP has moved a floatel capable of accommodating about 300 people into the harbour at Scalloway. Mr Cooper said the local college was working hard to meet the demand for trained deckhands to work on ships.

The plans to upgrade Sullom Voe BP is developing with its partners could require the firm to attract hundreds of engineering and construction specialists to the islands to work on projects that could take years to complete.

Peter Miller, VP of BP's North Sea midstream business, which runs assets like Sullom Voe, said the upgrade work will provide a boost to employment on Shetland that could last for the best part of a decade.

Managers at the plant are preparing for a massive increase in activity there once the Clair Ridge development comes onstream in 2016.

BP's redevelopment of the huge Schiehallion field west of Shetland is also expected to complete that year.

BP and partners are working on plans to develop a £500 million plant at Sullom Voe that will be used to remove corrosive Hydrogen Sulfide from gas produced at Clair Ridge, so it can be injected into the Magnus field east of Shetland to boost oil production.

The Shetlander who runs Sullom Voe, Arthur Spence, notes lots of work will be done on the ageing terminal to ensure it can cope with the expected activity.

Sullom Voe has already been operating 10 years longer than was expected when it came online in 1978 to handle output from fields east of Shetland like Ninian.

Work is underway to refurbish the 16 huge tanks that are used to store crude at Sullom Voe before it is shipped to market in tankers.

With each tank capable of holding more than 500,000 barrels of crude, Mr Spence says Sullom Voe is "strategically important to the UK and the UK economy".

The refurbishment work involves specialists from Cape and Motherwell Bridge working in the darkened chamber reeking of crude formed by lowering the floating roof that covers the tank.

Mr Spence says Sullom Voe has contributed several hundred million pounds to the local community to be used in the development of Shetland over the years.

"A lot of that money is still in the bank, it's there for a rainy day when the terminal closes down – but that will be a long way away," he says.

While Mr Cooper says the seafood industry is the most important driver of economic activity in Shetland by far, he recognises the oil and gas industry is a key source of well-paid professional jobs.

With only 1.3% of the workforce claiming Jobseekers Allowance in May, there is keen competition for staff locally.

As oil and gas firms will have to recruit people from outside to work on the islands, much will depend on their ability to sell the charms of Shetland with the council.

The prospect of a high quality of life on nature-rich islands boasting a strong education system will likely be part of the offer.