Port bosses have hailed the visit of the Noble Innovator jack-up rig to Aberdeen as “a win-win for everybody involved”.
The huge structure, more than 650ft high, dominated the Granite City’s skyline for three months before leaving for a BP decommissioning project in the North Sea last week.
A £400 million-plus expansion of the harbour has created new deep-water berths.
Many more to come
Port of Aberdeen chief commercial officer Roddy James told Energy Voice, sister website to The Press and Journal, the project had paved the way for many more energy industry vessels and rigs.
He added: “It’s very much been embraced by your traditional oil and gas businesses, from the operators through to the main vessel owners.”
Noble Innovator underwent maintenance work during its visit to Aberdeen.
Mr James said the port was targeting many new types of vessel amid the energy transition.
More than two-thirds (65%) of the port’s business is energy related, with 12% now in renewables, he added.
He continued: “There’s obviously the wind industry.
“As that picks up, you’ll see more and more of these types of vessels coming into the North Sea.
“We’re obviously perfectly positioned for a lot of that work. They see Aberdeen as very much a place they can come in and do what they need to do.”
Supporting Scotland’s supply chain
Making this scale of work available in Scotland will support the country’s supply chain and create jobs, Mr James said.
He added: “Innovator was a good example – that was going to Copenhagen or Esjberg in Denmark (before Aberdeen got chosen).
“If it’s in Aberdeen (a maintenance project like Noble Innovator), I would say 90% of the rigging, diving, scaffolding, whatever, will be sought from the region.”
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