Ineos has confirmed repairs have concluded on the Forties Pipeline System and that it is “ramping up to full rates”.

The firm said tonight that the repair of the Train 3 processing unit at the Kinneil gas terminal, near Grangemouth, had been completed.

On Sunday, the operator said it had to reduce flow from the major North Sea pipeline in order to carry out repair works.

A spokesman for Ineos said: “The repair of Train 3 of the FPS has been completed.

“Our customers are in the process of ramping up to full rates.”

After first stating the work is due to be finished between Thursday and Friday, Ineos  said today it expected work to be finished later the same day.

According to analysts Wood Mackenzie, Forties is the largest offshore system in the UK North Sea by volume.

It serves around 80 fields in the Central and Northern North Sea and several Norwegian fields, and last year it averaged 400,000 barrels per day of throughput.

After initially reducing flow to 150,000 barrels per day on Sunday, Ineos reduced Forties flow to 190,000 bpd.

In December 2017, flow through Forties was suspended, forcing a host of oil majors to shut down production from fields served by the giant pipeline due to a lack of storage.

Industry body Oil and Gas UK said £20 million worth of North Sea production per day was being held back as a result.