The oil rig mystery

A Craigie reader and shipping enthusiast is baffled by an oil rig’s recent movements, and asks if fellow ship enthusiasts can help to shed some light.

“What is happening to the oil rig Ensco 101 which was laid up in Dundee until last month?” he writes.

“As a keen ship enthusiast I look at the www.marinetraffic.com website each day.

“It shows the positions of all ships worldwide with their destinations, courses, speed, etc, and based on its data, clicking “Hawk” in the Search “Q” link plus “Past Track” and combining that with news from a friend in Edinburgh the following emerges:

“Tugs towed the rig away from Dundee on June 14 and took it to the Forth where the semi-submersible ship Hawk was anchored (presumably to load it).

“But on June 20 they apparently towed the rig back to Dundee. By June 30 it had, however, been taken to the Forth again, and this time was loaded aboard the semisubmersible, which then sailed – reportedly for St Petersburg in Russia which seemed odd since I do not associate that area with oil wells or shipbreaking.

“She sailed well out into the North Sea but then did a 180-degree turn and came back off the Forth, before heading north to near Montrose, doing another about-turn and going down to off the Tyne.

“After that she at last headed in the expected direction and into the Kattegat, nearing Elsinore – whereupon she turned yet again and came back into the Skagerrak.

“At time of writing she was shown north of Denmark but had left her westward course by turning east for about 20 miles,

then 20 miles west, then some 15 miles east to her current position.

“Her speed has varied throughout the saga but about nine knots is typical and that is what she is doing (at time of writing).

“I shudder to think the cost of the fuel used in all these manoeuvres, and irrespective of the reason, why did they not virtually stop and drift to economise?

“The cost of chartering the semisubmersible for this and the postponed

loading must also have been considerable. It therefore seems very mysterious and I am sure that an explanation would be most interesting.”

Given the collective expertise among Craigie readers, we await possible explanations with much interest.