Rowan Norway rig makes a big impression on journey into Dundee docks
ByNews reporter
Kris Miller, Courier, 26/09/11. Picture today at Monifieth beach shows the latest rig being towed into the Tay and dwarfing kitesurfer, Jonny Robinson.
Dundee welcomed its latest giant visitor when the towering Rowan Norway oil rig arrived on Monday.
The rig glided up the Tay in the company of several tugboats to a berth at the city’s docks.
The brand new jack-up rig, which can operate in depths of up to 400ft, has had a weeks-long journey from its fabrication yard in Singapore via the Indian Ocean, Suez Canal, Mediterranean Sea and Bay of Biscay.
Dundee is its first port of call. It is expected to stay here for a few months, while being set up for use.
It is home to up to 120 offshore workers when in service, and arrived on a semi-submersible barge, before being held in the Firth of Forth until tide and weather conditions were right for it to come up the Tay.
After being made ready for service in Dundee, the rig is expected to work the North Sea’s Bentley oilfield for Xcite Energy until June 2012.
