An offshore drilling rig – where an offshore worker went missing earlier this year – has returned to the North Sea.
Vessel tracking website Marine Traffic shows the Valaris 121 departed Dundee on Tuesday, and is currently making its way down England’s east coast.
According to Valaris’ (NYSE: VAL) latest fleet status report, the jack-up rig is on contract to Petrofac until September.
The one-well deal, awarded earlier this year, is expected to last for 70-100 days.
Once complete, the rig will begin work for supermajor Shell in the UK, a deal that is expected to kick off in October and run until April next year.
Jason Thomas
The Valaris 121 arrived in Dundee in January – where it remained until earlier this week – two days after a worker on board was reported missing.
Health inspectors subsequently found a hole in the deck of the rig that appeared on the same day (January 22) that Jason Thomas went overboard.
His disappearance sparked a huge search off Aberdeen, but the body of the 50-year-old has not been found.
Police Scotland boarded the Valaris 121 in Dundee to carry out enquiries, and later confirmed that the case was being treated as a missing persons enquiry and remained ongoing.
There are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding Mr Thomas’ disappearance.
According to an improvement notice from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), a section of grating on the Liberian-flagged rig dislodged, putting employees at risk of “falling through the subsequent hole”.
At the time the HSE said it was continuing to investigate the circumstances, and that no further detail would be disclosed.
A trade union boss said the findings have “only served to confirm” initial fears that he fell through the opening on the rig.