Total has signed a deal with North Sea Midstream Partners (NSMP) to sell of all its interests in the St Fergus gas terminal near Peterhead in Aberdeenshire.

The deal said to be worth £538m is subject to approval and includes the SIRGE and FUKA Pipeline systems.

It was initially reported that the deal would mean 150 job losses but Total have said that all staff at the terminal will be transferred to the new operators and contractors will continue to be offered work at the terminal.

Energy and process industry specialist, the px Group, has signed a long term agreement with NSMP to operate and maintain the St Fergus terminal and its pipelines.

Total chief financial officer Patrick de La Chevardière said: "The sale of these midstream transportation assets is another example of Total's strategy of active portfolio management and the strong potential to unlock value from a range of infrastructure assets.

"Transferring ownership to an entity specialising in midstream UK assets creates value for us and ensures a long and bright future for the facilities.”

Chief Executive Officer with px, Ian Clifford, said: "We are delighted to have been selected as the operations and maintenance partner for one of the UK's largest gas processing operations.

"As a business working in high hazard industries, we make the safety of our people and the protection of the environment our top priorities.

"So the most important thing now is to ensure a safe and smooth transition of operations at St. Fergus and incident free operation in the years ahead, while maximising the efficiency of the plant."

The Frigg UK Pipeline (FUKA) is a 362km pipeline connecting the Frigg field to St Fergus.

The FUKA pipeline delivers gas from 20 fields in the northern North Sea. The Shetland Island Regional Gas Export System (SIRGE) is a 234km pipeline connecting the Shetland Gas Plant to the FUKA pipeline.