Noble Innovator, the giant oil rig which has become a part of the Aberdeen skyline in recent months, is due to leave the city’s South Harbour on Friday.
It berthed in the £400 million-plus expansion to Port of Aberdeen, in February.
The jack-up’s arrival for maintenance work was welcomed by harbour bosses.
They said the work being carried out would boost the Aberdeen economy and create jobs in the region through a “multi-million-pound investment in local contract awards”.
Port of Aberdeen chief commercial officer Roddy James hailed it as “a great win” for the north-east “because it really means we can start to do projects like this”.
The rig was the talk of the town when it entered South Harbour.
Energy Voice, sister website to The Press and Journal, shared a video showing views of the Granite City from the vessel.
But not everyone welcomed the appearance of its 650ft-plus legs on the Aberdeen skyline.
Residents of Torry, which is next to South Harbour, complained of a lack of community input into the vessel’s arrival.
Mr James responded by saying: “It’s about securing jobs for the north-east.”
The maintenance work has now been completed on the rig and it is ready to go to work for energy giant BP, taking on a decommissioning project in the central North Sea
Port of Aberdeen’s bosses hope vessels like Noble Innovator may become a common sight on the north-east coastline.
Mr James said: “She’s probably one of the largest we’ll see height-wise, but we can have other vessels that are longer or deeper.”
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