Transocean pledge to leave sea bed as they found it

Speaking at a public meeting to give details on the planned departure of the stricken Transocean Winner which is currently anchored in Broadbay after being salvaged from the rocks of Dalmore recently, Walls insisted that Transocean would be picking up the tab for all costs incurred during the grounding of the rig.

“It is my understanding that Transocean will meet any obligations which arise from this incident,” he said, “including blue light services.”

The stricken platform is planned to depart for Turkey anytime after September 20th when a heavy lift ship will arrive which is scheduled to transport the damaged platform as cargo.

The 65,000 tonne Hawk is due to arrive in Scotland next week and it will remain in Lewis as long as necessary until a suitable weather window opens up to load the rig.

The UK Government’s maritime salvage advisor, Hugh Shaw, said: “It is not the best time to recover a rig but while we accept there will be difficulties there will be opportunities to do so.

“We will make sure we are ready when the window is here, the ship will be here, the tugs and we will be ready to go at any stage.”

Dave Walls chipped in: “This is the least hazardous option and the best for all of us. There have already been numerous windows in the past three or four weeks which would have suited us.”

Representatives from the Hawk’s owners, Offshore Heavy Lift, have visited the rig to determine the scale of the damage and work required before the process of welding the rig to the deck of ship can be planned.

Two thruster units below the water level on the rigs legs will have to be removed first although some parts may already be on the sea bed in Dalmore.

“We have identified and recovered more than 100 targets from the sea bed in Dalmore,” continued Walls.

“But we have 23 other targets remaining. Some of these are two or three tonnes in weight and will require cranes to recover them but it is our intention to leave the sea bed in the same condition as before we arrived.”

Walls also insisted that Transocean would maintain future monitoring of the beach in Dalmore for a minimum of a year which could be extended should it be required.

“No one has been hurt and there has been no damage to the environment,” added Walls, “this is what we have pledged and we have lived up to that.”