At 10pm last night (Monday 22 August) the Transocean Winner drilling rig was successfully refloated from Dalmore Bay, on the Isle of Lewis, off the west of Scotland, where it had grounded just over two weeks ago.
Following its refloat, the rig is being stabilized before starting its journey to Broad Bay, on the east coast of the Isle of Lewis, by this evening. Read an update here.
According to the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA), the rig will remain at Broad Bay until it is in a stable and fit condition to be towed or transported to a suitable repair facility.
The rig grounded early on Monday 8 August, after parting from the tug Alp Forward that was towing it from Stavanger to Malta amid high winds. Bad weather initially hampered attempts to board the rig to first assess its condition and then prepare it for a refloat in the first week of salvage operations.
Over the weekend just gone, Transocean removed non-essential diesel oil and any other potential pollutants from the rig.
It is understood that the GVA-4000 design rig, built in 1993 and upgraded in 2006, was due to be scrapped.
The Transocean Winner recently came off contract with Marathon Oil in the Norwegian North Sea on a US$498,000 day rate, but had no other work lined up, according to Transocean's latest fleet report.
Image: Transocean Winner grounded in Dalmore Bay. Photo from MCA.
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