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Just why is that rig
there?
When looking in the direction of Cowes for the past month, an
oil rig has been clearly visible. The puzzle has been as to why it
sat there for so long. The answer provided to me by local resident
Dick Wrangles who has a Port of Hastings background, is that the
oil rig, which was sitting on its legs on the floor of the bay, was
there to have its structure and pontoon (the living and work
structure that is four or five stories high and can move its legs
up or down) environmentally cleaned, which is a legal requirement
when rigs move into another ocean or sea. When this was completed,
it was to be transported to the North Sea off the coast of
Scotland, aboard the submersible boat which arrived on Nov.13 with
a gas-drilling rig on board.
After cutting the welding that holds the gas rig on board, the
submersible was sunk 40 feet and the rig’s pontoon floated the
structure off, which then was towed by three rig tenders to a
position off Cape Otway to drill for gas. On arrival there, the
legs can only be lowered onto the seabed when the ocean swell is
less than 2.5 metres, otherwise the legs could be forced through
the seabed crust and be on the unstable soft mud base.
Meanwhile, back in the bay with the help of two rig tenders, the
oil rig was floated into position above the sunken submersible (the
crew will only submerge the submersible in calm weather as it is
very unstable in that situation) then the submersible rose and the
rig was welded to the deck and off it went to the North Sea, with
the crew hoping for good weather on the way.
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