The Ocean Onyx is a mobile, column-stabilised offshore drilling unit (owned by drilling services company Diamond Offshore) which was laid up in Port Phillip Bay two years ago due to the COVID pandemic, and now it’s back.
The offshore exploration drilling rig, seen from parts of Point Cook and Werribee South and currently anchored in Port Phillip Bay, has been designated an EXCLUSION zone.
An anchor-handling tug and supply vessel towed the rig to its location near Ports Victoria’s anchorages on Tuesday 12 July.
Before being towed to its next destination off Western Australia, the rig will remain there until 26 July while it is demobilized.
In a message sent to mariners, Port of Melbourne harbour master Warwick Laing announced a 200-metre exclusion zone around the Ocean Onyx, which excludes offshore tug vessels Siem Amethyst, Siem Aquamarine, and Siem Topaz.
“Mariners are advised to navigate with caution in the vicinity of the Ocean Onyx and instructed to remain outside the exclusion zone unless specifically exempted,” Mr Laing said in a notice on 13 July.
An offshore project of Beach Energy, a company here in Australia that explores and produces oil and gas, was undertaken by Ocean Onyx off the Port Campbell coast.
