Italian oilfield services company Saipem has shared a video of one of its offshore drilling rigs passing the Bosphorus Strait in Turkey, earlier this week.
The Scarabeo 9, Saipem's semi-submersible drilling rig, on Monday crossed the Bosporus Strait for the fourth time in its history.
Saipem says its rig, built in China in 2011, is "one of the most flexible and among the few units suitable for operating in the Black Sea."
The rig left the Romanian Black Sea to reach a shipyard to perform maintenance works "in view of new jobs in the months to come," Saipem said.
The Scarabeo 9 Master, Antonino Iaccarino, said: “Crossing the Bosphorus with the rig almost touching the bridges is always a great emotion for me and my crew, well aware of belonging to a great company capable of extraordinary enterprises.”
It is not clear if Saipem has a contract for the unit already. Data from VesselsValue shows that the rig worked for Lukoil until December 2019. Data also shows the rig's destination to be Las Palmas, Spain where it is expected to arrive on May 5, 2020.