village, Highland council area, historic county of Ross-shire, historic region of Ross and Cromarty, northeast coast of Scotland. It is closely associated with and heavily dependent on the offshore petroleum industry. Construction of a huge dry dock began at Nigg in 1972, utilizing a sheltered 200-acre (80-hectare) site close to deep tidal water for the production of large drilling platforms for the North Sea oil fields. A pipeline brings oil from the sea onshore at the Nigg oil terminal. Nigg Old Church, rebuilt in 1626, houses an elaborately carved 8th-century Pictish stone. Pop. (2001) 386.