(Bloomberg) -- Transocean Winner, a semisubmersible drilling rig, ran aground off the west coast of Scotland after it broke free from a tug boat amid strong winds, the U.K. Maritime and Coastguard Agency said.
Facebook photos courtesy Mark Macleod
There are no people on board the rig and there is no risk to life, the agency said in an e-mailed statement Monday. The rig was being transported from Norway to Malta when the tow line broke and it was pushed aground off the Isle of Lewis, a spokesman for Transocean Ltd., which owns the rig, said by phone.
The rig, capable of drilling in water depths of 1,500 feet (457 meters), was being towed by the Alp Forward, owned by Alp Marine Services. The boat “remains on scene to visually monitor the rig,” the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said.
Transocean Winner, which started operating in 1983, had just wrapped up an 11-month contract in July with Marathon Oil Corp. that paid the rig owner $498,000 a day, according to Transocean’s July 21 fleet status report.
The North Sea, where the rig was last working, is one of Transocean’s largest markets, with seven active vessels in the region, according to the July report.
Bloomberg News by Rakteem Katakey
