The Blackford Dolphin oil rig, which was originally booked in for a 60-day refit in Belfast, will now remain in the city’s docks until June, according to the Belfast Telegraph. The 360ft structure came into the Harland & Wolff shipyard in early December from Brazil.
In March, following the discovery of the need for additional work, rig owner Dolphin Drilling told the Norwegian Stock Exchange that the work would continue until April; that deadline has now been extended again.
The city’s familiar gantry cranes Samson and Goliath, which were moved to make room for the huge rig, will have to be rolled back into the yard to handle large wind-turbine parts currently being made in the shipyard’s assembly hall for another client.
Harland & Wolff’s head of sales and marketing, David McVeigh, said: “The need for this additional vital work was only identified after the rig came into the dock. The workers at Harland & Wolff completed the scheduled refurbishment work within the specified time-frame; this is now purely structural repair work being carried out.
“We face a race against time to have everything finished for June, as we require the gantry cranes to help make deliveries at around the same time as the work on the rig is due to be completed.”