Stena Drilling has confirmed that three vessels are in place to aid the recovery of the Stena Spey’s anchors following half of them becoming detached.
Over the weekend the Stena Spey drilling rig lost four of its eight anchors as the North Sea was hit by Storm Babet.
Stena Drilling has announced that a tow vessel successfully attached a line to the rig on Sunday. More recently, two anchor-handling vessels have arrived at the location to begin anchor recovery operations.
The Stena Spey drilling unit remains in a secure position 146 miles east of Aberdeen following the attachment of tow lines.
Stena Drilling says weather in the area has improved with the current sea state recording two-metre waves and 7-knot winds.
At the time of the incident over the weekend, 45 non-essential personnel were transferred to nearby platforms and Sumburgh, Shetland Islands.
Since then, the firm has said that all of the 45 have safely returned to Aberdeen.
At the time of the incident, a spokesman for the company said the severe weather had caused four of the eight anchors to detach from the platform.
The spokesman added: “All support services are being coordinated through the shore-based incident response team and every possible effort is being made to safeguard risk to personnel at the scene and resolve the situation.”
The firm wanted to thank the Coast Guard Services, the Authorities and the crew who reacted in a “timely and professional manner” to this weather-related emergency.
Stena Drilling wrote: “Stena Drilling’s priorities continue to be the safety of all personnel and the company is working closely with partner organisations and relevant authorities including the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to ensure the safety of all involved.”