THE Cromarty Firth Port Authority (CFPA) is celebrating a busy start to the year with the arrival of four oil rigs.
And the success looks set to continue with a high number of inquiries being made for rigs to anchor in the Cromarty Firth or alongside at the Invergordon Service Base.
CFPA bosses hope the increased activity will generate significant new business and employment opportunities for companies in the area.
The recent fall in oil prices has led to an increased demand for the anchoring of rigs.
The rigs which arrived are the Hutton tension leg platform (TLP), Arctic II, Sedco 712 and Ocean Guardian.
CFPA’s port manager Ken Gray, said: “It is great to see that, in times of a deepening world economic recession, we are bucking the trend and having such a positive start to 2009.
“Good news for us, hopefully, will mean good news for the Highland economy, in which we play a significant part.”
For the Hutton TLP, its visit to the Cromarty Firth marks a return to its birthplace.
Constructed at Ardersier and Nigg in 1984, it was a cutting edge structure in its day. But the 31,000-tonne rig ceased production in 2002, and part of it was removed in Russia in 2003.
Last year the legs were purchased for conversion into a drilling rig and were prepared to be towed to a Spanish shipyard for work.
However, the Spanish yard was unable to undertake the work due to commercial difficulties, and the tow was diverted to the Cromarty Firth.