Three heavy duty tugboats towing oil rig Ocean Nomad in Øresund

The Norwegian tugboat Olympic Poseidon towing the Ocean Nomad this morning.

There have been several spectacular tow transports in the Sound this spring, but easily the biggest one was majestically floating southwards at about 6 A.M. today. 

A fleet of three heavy duty tugs - the Olympic Poseidon, the Mærsk Lifter and the Havila Neptune - are involved in towing the huge North Sea oil drilling rig Ocean Nomad from Aberdeen to an unspecified port in Latvia. The tugs and the rig left Aberdeen on May 1, and are expected to arrive in Latvia on May 10. 

The  80 m x 18 m Olympic Poseidon was the "lead ship".

The Ocean Nomad , is owned and operated by Houston based Diamond Offshore, with a fleet of offshore rigs  consisting of thirty semisubmersibles, seven jack-ups, and one drillship. In addition, four ulta-deepwater drillships and two deepwater semisubmersibles are currently under construction.

The Ocean Nomad is a Semisub type of drilling rig. It was designed by Aker H-3 Enhanced and delivered in 1975 by Trosvik Framnaes at the Sandefjord shipyard in Norway . It is currently holding a Marshall Islands flag. The Ocean Nomad can operate at water depths up to 1,200 ft and drill down to approximately 25,000 ft .

The Danish tug Mærsk Lifter (90 m x 24 m) was securing the tow from behind. 

The  227 ft long Ocean Nomad has accommodation for 105 people.

The Norwegian tugboat Havila Neptune (74 m x 16 m) was acting as a back up  in the rear.

The Ocean Nomad approaching Helsingborg/Helsingør

PS (May 19)

The Ocean Nomad will soon start drilling for oil in the Baltic: 

Ocean Nomad has arrived in the Latvian zone of the Baltic Sea and has been moored in the area of a licence owned by Balin Energy, a joint venture of PKN ORLEN (through ORLEN International Exploration and Production Company B.V) and Kuwait Energy Company Netherlands Cooperatief. On Sunday, contractor Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. commenced the drilling of the first exploration well.

On May 10th the semi-submersible drilling platform 'Ocean Nomad' was towed to the site of planned operations in the Latvian economic zone of the Baltic Sea. Platforms of this type meet the most stringent safety requirements and are most commonly used for deep-water drilling, including in the North Sea.

The drilling takes place 132 metres below sea level and will continue for approximately 40 days. The well will be drilled to a total depth of 1,500 metres below sea level, 104 kilometres off the west coast of Latvia. The two licence blocks, which are covered by thirty-year exploration licences within the Latvian waters near the country's Swedish border, span a total area of 1,664 square kilometres. --

Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis visited the Ocean Nomad a couple of days ago. Here are some nice pictures from the visit.