What is This?

It is a Jack-Up Drilling rig and I agree it looks a bit strange at first sight. This is the brand new 'Maersk Resolute' drilling through an already installed platform (you can see the drillstring through the platform). It is more or less the same design platform as we are building right now. I will try to explain how it works and I think it is the easiest way to explain how they take it away from the position you see on the picture. High above the fixed platform you'll see the drilling tower. How did they get it there? Quite simple; they skidded it from the centre of the floating Jack-Up rig (the blue-red painted hull). So they pull up the drill string first, then skid the tower back to the centre of her deck and then they lower the blue-red hull along the three steel legs back to the sea surface. As soon as it starts floating, they retract the three legs and they have a floating Jack-Up rig ready for the next job. Interested in more details of this super modern piece of offshore equipment? See this Site