The Noble Lloyd Noble is discharged - September 2016

The worlds largest jack-up oil rig visited the Cromarty Firth in September 2016 and was discharged for taking on supplies before being sent to work in the Mariner Field.

First oil is expected to be produced from Mariner in 2018.

The pre-drilling campaign is expected to support about 500 jobs in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).

Mariner, which lies about 93 miles (150km) east of Shetland, is one of the largest projects currently under development in the UKCS.

The heavy oil field has reserves estimated at more than 250 million barrels of oil, with an average plateau production of about 55,000 barrels per day.

Cromarty Firth - 'Deep Energy', October 2017

Constructed in 2013, the Deep Energy is one of the largest pipelay vessels ever built.

She has the capacity to install rigid pipe, flexible pipe and umbilicals in water depths up to 3,000 m via the reel-lay method.

With a fast transit speed of 19.5 knots, high product storage capacity and an abandonment and recovery system rated to 500 Te, she can operate on North Sea and on Intercontinental projects.

Here she is spooling on pipe at Technip's Evanston Spool Base. The Cromarty road crossing can clearly be seen in the background.

Oil rigs of the Cromarty Firth - October 2017

Looking over the Cromarty Firth which has in the past had 17 rigs stacked.

These rigs need periodic surveys and they come in and get work done – major maintenance or to install client-specific equipment top-side – before going back out to drill.

There are six ‘hot-stacked’ which are on ‘warm standby’, ready to go with 60 onboard, and another six ‘cold-stacked’, empty.

According to the BBC in August 2017 two men boarded a cold stacked rig:

'The pair, who describe themselves as "urban explorers", took a dinghy to the Ocean Princess, one of several offshore structures in the Cromarty Firth.

Police Scotland said it was aware of the incident and has begun an investigation.

The platform's owner, Diamond Offshore, confirmed an incident took place.

The Cromarty Firth Port Authority has declined to comment.

The incident is understood to have happened at the weekend and the men were thought to have spent a night onboard.'