Cromarty Firth: The Oil Rig Graveyard

In the far north of Scotland, among the rugged Highlands, is an inlet of the North Sea where half a dozen giant oil rigs are parked. Some have a skeleton crew still on board, others are left rusting. But what are they doing there? I went to the Cromarty Firth to find out...

[@side-fish]

It doesn't sound like a graveyard. Sounds more like a vacation getaway for oilrigs.

[@shingshongshamalama]

A retirement home for oil rigs.

[@rin_etoware_2989]

@@shingshongshamalama sounds like a museum

[@Voltaic_Fire]

Let's be honest, they're not getting any tourism without the oil rigs, that town has literally nothing else going on.

[@qed2997]

Train shot was totally worth the wait.

[@mdenouden3y6]

I am also perfectly fine with Tim waiting for that shot. I got mild entertainment out of it.

[@theventuracountyrailfan]

Yes

[@duncankelly852]

Thing is I think the train service that far north is like 3 or 4 trains each way a day

[@poonamkejriwal3106]

Idts

[@antman7673]

I mean the narration on that part worked really well.

[@n1thmusic229]

3:30 for everyone’s information, there are 8 trains per delay in each direction from invergordon and actually 1 terminates so with 14 trains per day, he might have waited an hour for that shot

[@eekee6034]

"8 trains per _delay_"... I'm confused. Are you saying the railway is bad or good? ;)

[@n1thmusic229]

@@eekee6034 Day* Bloody Autocorrect

[@eekee6034]

@@n1thmusic229 Ah, I gotcha. :)

[@SeattlePioneer]

Someone should be offering a harbor tour that includes a visit to an oil rig.

[@bahadirakcam5301]

I agree! I would like to visit one.

[@michaelblack4323]

I would pay for that

[@sonkejager3305]

@Erich Klein I'll have to second that- the idea is great, but the insurance paper work would be nightmarish

[@JulieWallis1963]

Will Skubi sounds about as much fun as watching paint dry 😳

[@mittfh]

Maybe not actually visit the rigs, but passing within a few hundred yards should be close enough to get a sense of scale but far enough not to risk bumping into them.

[@StinkyPeteThePirate]

At Christmas time they could decorate them with twinkle lights.

[@allanmacbadger5692]

They have to have warning lights switched on at night.

[@superbmediacontentcreator]

You've obviously never seen an oil rig at night as they already look like that without decoration.

[@superbmediacontentcreator]

@eclemensen Once again when lit up just regularly from a few miles away they already look like that have neem decorated. I am just sorry this documentarian was unable to get out in the water and tour them.

[@bernieponcik1351]

Christmas lights would be awesome but we don't need it lit up like Las Vegas...

[@StinkyPeteThePirate]

@@bernieponcik1351 Viva!

[@GlasgowGallus]

From Glasgow but I lived in Cromarty, just across from Invergordon. There's rig maintenance facilities in the area too, so they're not all derelicts. And, like one of the other commenters, I never heard anyone complain about them. They make the landscape interesting. Really enjoy your channel mate, but we call the large puddles here 'lochs', not lakes...👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@saminacan7775]

Being in the industry, I'm one of the few that gets teary eyed when the price of oil goes down. Near where I live in Texas, you can see dozens of disused rigs. A few notes for the curious: we refer to this practice as 'stacking'. There are two different kinds of stacking, warm and cold. Warm stacking means that the rig can be brought into service relatively quickly. There will be a skeleton crew onboard and the engines will be on. Cold is the opposite. Everything is weatherized and packed up much like you do to a lawnmower in the winter. Those rigs will have a smaller crew and maybe just security on board. Generally, the only rigs that are completely devoid of crew are the oldest in the fleet that have slim hope of returning to service.

[@muchasgracias6976]

@shahzeb ali This must be the very frustrate for you. I hope you get nice job my friend

[@fitrianhidayat]

@shahzeb ali that's almost the exact same case with me... I'm currently working in Telco Industry though

[@kmmining1359]

Hi Sam, I worked on rigs stacked in the firth @ Invergordon in this video, back in the day there used to be a nightclub called "the bone mill" I used to work on top of the derrick or up the legs of jack-ups and the smell drifting accross the valley from the scotch whisky distillery to the north was amazing... I also worked on Rigs stacked @ chicken crossing, Sabine Pass in your back yard. Good ol days.

[@Jeff-ub4lr]

By chance, I retired from the industry back in 2010. During my time, I'have seen ups and downs, many. Not exactly the right stuff for a regular career. In some places, where regulations are quite inexistent, drilling companies may just abandon the rigs. There is a jackup rusting in Port-Gentil (Gabon) harbour for, let's say the last 25years at least.

[@pyrotek40]

I retired from 20yrs of doing Surveys and Inspections of MODU's.. We hated to hear we're going to survey a "Stacked Rig", the crews are always so joyful about being stuck on one without full pay... Gulf coast of the US is where I mostly worked.. going to do one in Cameron LA my buddy says on the way from Houston to an old ENSCO rig "This is just wrong with a capital R" so that was our saying when forced to go do a Stacked rig...

[@willnesbitt1694]

I grew up there and my mum still lives there and I've literally never heard of anyone complaining about them. They put them on the tourist crap 😂

[@allanmacbadger5692]

Same here, arent the picnic table for looking at the seals?

[@mb2k100]

@@allanmacbadger5692 Used to eat fish and chips there with my mum, I think it was from Tony's? It was the fish and chips place next to the sweet shop, this was the 90's mind. I think its gone now :/ You guys remember? Anyway, yeah I don't know anyone that complained about it, I also don't remember anyone calling it the Oil rig Graveyard.

[@twozup1098]

Ahh that'll be the white settlers from darrn sarrf that moved in not long after selling their two bedroom flat in that London and bought a country house overlooking the Firth with the profit and want them moved so as not to "spoil the view"....

[@127cmore]

Place is a total shithhole. Plenty of the " new " locals complaining. I don't blame them though . My friend said they even fuck up the TV reception when they or tankers moor.

[@xxxggthyf]

Having been there once I can confirm that the presence of oil rigs is the least of Invergordon's problems.

[@HenrysAdventures]

I walked around Cromarty today on the other side of the bay from Invergordon. The oil rigs are still there and they've been joined by a load of tall yellow structures which turn out to be the underwater part of off shore windfarms.

[@zappababe8577]

Just wanted to say thank you for waiting all that time to get the train shot. I appreciate the work, time and effort that you put into all your videos.

[@frzstat]

The train-over-oil-rig shot was totally worth it! Maybe some Christmas lights to make look festive at night?

[@SamanthaGuttesen]

Used to Raf Invergordon/Alness during ww2. My grandad was stationed there. It used to be a station for Raf seaplanes, Sunderland and Catalinas, that would hunt German u boats. I travelled up to Scotland for a holiday, and discovered the Officers mess, which is slightly away from the main area, and it's now a luxury self catering holiday home.

[@alaintheisen7781]

You have a talent to find "special" interesting places to visit. I love your comments (humour). The way you describe the places and tell your story's is great.

[@skyfeelan]

tom scott: finally, a worthy opponent

[@Torvikholm]

I just finished a 4 day work trip to a similar place in Norway. There are more rigs than I could count docked up there. The amount of disused oil rigs anchored up around the Norwegian west coast is staggering.

[@LordArioh]

I worked in Ågotnes docks on an oil rigs, maintenance and repair, few years ago. Rigs still come and go as I drive by occasionally. And quite a lot of them. May be you saw a few docking areas like that. I didn't really look into it, but haven't heard so far of a single disused oil rig in Norway, tho I'm sure there must be a few due to being too old.

[@kmmining1359]

@I Am Hulk well there were 9 jack-ups stacked in Batam, Indonesia up until the beginning of this year, now they have all gone back to work but the day rates are not so good.

[@Torvikholm]

@@LordArioh I worked on/in Skipavika. the general term there is that any rig that gets anchored up there is at the end of its life. They are basically just waiting to get dismantled. Tho the owners want to get them out onto the fields again, there are still very little hope these rigs. Rigs that go to places like Ågotnes and specially Hanøytangen are often in for a service, and is then sent out to the fields again, but in Skipavika, the rigs are laying for years on end.

[@malteplath]

This was some much needed lightheartedness in these dire times. Thanks, Tim!

[@sunnyjim1355]

I was there 2 years ago on a cycle trip and crossed that firth on a little ferry, and yeah I was surprised to see all those rigs in the bay and I'd seen nothing like that before! But also there was a school of dolphins swimming around there, which was the first time I'd ever seen them in the wild. So all-in-all, it was a very memorable experience that I much enjoyed. Thanks for reminding me. :-)

[@doxielain2231]

Hey, this yankee drove past them last month on my way to Orkney. Thanks for telling us about it, I was tickled to see it in real life.

[@zanelindsay1267]

Tim Traveller has interesting angles on all of these creative mini-documentaries. Well done !

[@ME262MKI]

Well if the rigs are just stored for a future use, so this isnt a "graveyard" its a depo

[@ontledingen3348]

Of course "Cromarty Firth: The Oil Rig Parking Lot" doesn't sound that interesting.

[@Climber31Gaming]

If the oil rigs never go back into service, the use of the term graveyard could prove to be appropriate. That would of course require gas prices to stay low for a very long time. I'm not saying it's likely, just possible.

[@DonHavjuan]

It's a carpark

[@JulieWallis1963]

ME262MKI it’s a holiday hotspot for oil rigs!

[@SuperBobKing]

Guess that necromancer propaganda is working.

[@loripavlu9323]

They could sell them as private islands.

[@actsrv9]

Casinos. Or maybe observatories with telescopes.

[@reflex3843]

@@actsrv9 Out in the ocean, outside all territorial waters, no laws.

[@pco1984]

Call it Sealand. The people shall be Seamen.

[@csweezey18]

@@pco1984 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand

[@pco1984]

@@csweezey18 Sure, those guys were never officially recognized though.. On a different note, how's hell this time of year?

[@StrawberryStationMusic]

Went past this on a train trip to Thurso a few years back. It was an interesting change of scenery, and the work on the rigs generated a fair amount of traffic to the local line - half of the folks that got on the train were rig workers getting on at Invergordon!

[@RegebroRepairs]

Ah, the famous siblings of Inverness, Invergordon, Inveryan, Inverclaire, Inversophie and Bob.

[@madalheidis]

What about Inverjess? Or their kiwi cousin Invercargill?

[@ianhaggart1438]

Have to admit that this is the best travel channel in lock down or or not🤣😆🤣 loving the voice over to witty 😊😆🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@HappiEp]

The shot of the train going over the oil platform was amazing!!! So strange and unique that i could think it wasn't real but made in post-prodruction

[@kevo8013]

I love Cromarty my father in law stayed there and after he left myself and wife and daughter go back every year its beautiful oil rigs and all

[@bigcrowfly]

2:21 The pier is where all the cruise ships dock in the summer for visitors to visit the Loch Ness Monster and other sights in Northern Scotland. The gift shop sells lots of Nessie stuff. If you visited in the summer you might have seen a very large cruise ship and thousands of visitors.

[@mb2k100]

From up high above Invergordon on the hills the ships appear to dwarf the town! It's quite a sight.

[@127cmore]

They don't come to see Ross more for sure

[@dirtyeric]

Been on that pier many a time courtesy of Technip and the Deep Energy. Have some very nice pictures of the laid up rigs and the full moon and lovely sunrises.

[@janetshepherd4049]

Just been to Cromarty...12 oil rigs there. Agree 💓 the surreal aspect of the rigs against nature. Definitely recommend a visit if you like this sort of thing. Also a few good places to eat..oh and great cheese shop!!!

[@MisterMotel]

If you ever wondered how a serene scene can look with an oil rig in it, go to Scotland!

[@rock3tcatU233]

We're going to need them for our waterworld-esque dystopian future.

[@nickhorrex2313]

You should read the wall then lol

[@johnfife3062]

With a nod of appreciation to the snack-size video, it must be said that you visited with all the depth of a tourist who'd rather be in Disneyland. The history of the Cromarty firth is epic, having sheltered much the British fleet, past and future. Take the ferry across to Cromarty itself, pick up a wee book by Eric Malcolm "The Cromarty We Knew," and take a walking tour with it. One little town's eight-century history can enrapture for ages and you'll soon think little of oil rigs. The city grid vid idea sounds promising.

[@MrGreatplum]

Very enjoyable. The rigs actually enhance the landscape in some way. If I remember correctly, parts of the Fal estuary in Cornwall are used for container ship storage in much the same way. It’s very odd to see these ships looming above the valleys!

[@ToolkiT73UK]

The vilage of Cromarty is very nice. And has a great coffee bar next to the ferry.

[@perceptoshmegington3371]

Been here to work on docked rigs a couple of times, seeing it from this perspective was hilarious

[@Tootal74]

Love your films and the way you present them! A true joy of knowledge and obscurity!

[@2fas4me2]

Eyesore? Heck, I'd go there just FOR the platforms!

[@thatww2nerd81]

Same

[@ranekeisenkralle8265]

It is nice to see you doing something about Scotland - a place I hope to travel to at some point.

[@Water4Pen]

Love your videos! Thank you so much for sharing this. Greetings from Canada.

[@emin86]

So this is not an Oil Rig Graveyard, but just a regular Oil Rig Parking Lot. Here I thought I would see some grave stones next to the rigs with their built and deservicing dates engraved on them.

[@timofthomas]

As someone who has had a fair bit do to with buying bits to go out to those things over the twenty-teens this amuses me greatly - thanks Tim - from another Tim.

[@michaelford1124]

lol the "wish you were here" theme tune

[@alizarkami6187]

Tim, you're great. I always enjoy your videos

[@jamesarmstrong857]

Tims cadence is much better now. He lacked that energy in his voice in this older video. It's cool seeing an older video and witnessing a creator evolve.

[@dshack4689]

"Where else can you see a train go over an oil platform (and no I'm not going to admit how long I had to stand there to get that shot)...?" Brilliant! =) comedic timing and informative. Great work! (and yes, agree with the point that while an oilrig might be considered an eyesore, the uniqueness of this situation is ironic - probably more likely to have tourism than without them)

[@Tkmined]

3:45 well yes, I do enjoy seeing oil rigs during normally benign tasks. Especially living inland, seeing an oil rig would be a surreal spectacle. Imaging driving to work and seeing an oil rig in the parking lot.

[@wfdix1]

I rarely. RARELY. Subscribe to a channel, but these videos are brilliant. Having lived and worked in N. Yorkshire and traveled all over, these videos take me back.

[@aleroxit]

Excellent show!

[@timeflysintheshop]

Thank you for you making these interesting and funny videos. Stay safe!

[@Fomites]

Tim, you have the BEST travel videos for non-ordinary people :-)

[@DevMoSofi]

I really enjoy your videos. Keep the great work up!

[@Impailer67]

This guy is the eternal optimist . his glass is never half empty. We need more like him in the USA

[@edwinleslie1330]

I went to a wedding in Wick and we went past here. I couldn't get over what giants the rigs are. Even when seen from a bus on the main road. Ps. Great work. Love it.

[@ralphaverill2001]

When you sail south down the coast of California from San Francisco or Monterey you pass Point Conception and turn east down the Santa Barbara Channel. You see an almost identical view of working offshore oil rigs shrinking down to the horizon. The picture of Cromarty Firth immediately brought that memory back to me.

[@lafata2014]

Thanks. This was fun to watch!

[@michaelXXLF]

Commenting from Cromarty I can say: They certainly are different! Weirdly they get smaller the closer you get. They look gargantuan seen thru the small roads with their tiny houses but once you get to the harbour they seemingly shrink in size. And yes, it is a bleeding shame they don't do tours!

[@mordecaiepsilon]

Such a great simple video

[@boringbastard4920]

Dont scrap them, make a great refurbished fishing hotel.

[@Jonathan_Doe_]

You’d need a very long line!

[@colonelgraff9198]

Thank you Tim

[@mitchells7634]

I'm glad I watched this video. Learned something new today

[@TimMoor]

It's funny because from our brief trip through Scotland, drinking whiskey at the Dalmore distillery and looking out over the harbor and these amazing monoliths is a lasting memory.

[@froxxen]

Your words inspire me

[@GrinsInc]

Thanks for posting

[@320ifq]

There are drilling rigs and production platforms. The rigs explore for oil, when they find it they install a platform. They are just not looking for oil at the moment

[@sknox1394]

So glad you said it 😂. Wish the KZbinr researched the terminology and the reason that the rigs are there before making this video.

[@IainHendry]

I (perhaps rather naively) had no idea these things were moveable. Thanks for another great video!

[@sknox1394]

Actually the older oil platforms e.g. Ninian North, Central and South were built out in the North Sea.

[@terrywalker6910]

im in cromarty right now and the rigs are the only reason i have heard about this place and have come here , the town is busseling so i dont think many people are put off by them

[@georgimarinov1383]

Thanks for the video!

[@underwaterlaser1687]

Your piano playing is beautiful.

[@EricB256]

Thanks for the unique video. By the way, there is a place in Arizona or New Mexico which is a huge parking lot for charter airplanes during the off-season when they are not in service. That probably looks even more unique than the Firth with the oil rigs.

[@HenrysAdventures]

Very interesting video as usual! I was just thinking you must have either been in the right place at the right time or waited ages to get that train passing over the oil platform shot!

[@justinchapman2454]

The dolphin watching tour I went on from Cromarty a few years ago went around one of them before heading out towards the sea. The dolphins weren’t there, needless to say...

[@frostroxie2740]

More like a storage yard (bay).... graves are for the dead..!!!! Interesting video!!!

[@DPImageCapturing]

‘Tis was coo!!! Thx Tim!!

[@georgobergfell]

Funny how that picknick table looks like an oil rig 😉

[@colinmacdonald1869]

Some of these rigs have been cold stacked for years, and weren't exactly state of the art of the art when they entered the Firth. I wonder how easy it is to restart them... I'd always heard even a year of sitting there with no crew would make it really tough to get going again. You are a fearless trespasser! Only mention this because the one time I had to work on a rig off Invergordon, I just turned up at the quay, got on a workboat, and no one checked my ID until got I onboard the rig. So potentially...

[@Jeff-ub4lr]

I'have been working on a semi sub back in the eighties and the thing was just out from one or two years stacking. It took about one year to get the rig back on tracks while drilling. Everything that could brake did, even the BOP's. As wizard of ooze (mud engineer), I got plenty of free time.

[@hearsemonkey]

They should set one up for tours, could make some money on it.

[@mikewalrus4763]

The place used to be full of warships when we had some, one big floating thing for another - they joys of deep but sheltered waters with nothing else around - oh yes and a lot of those rigs were built just at the entrance to the firth!

[@kmmining1359]

in the early 80's it was full of eastern block trawlers as was fraserbraw :)

[@mikewalrus4763]

@@kmmining1359 Fraser? Oh you mean the Broch! Why not say so? haveyou been watching "Local Hero" by any chance?

[@bigbasil1908]

You're not going to admit how long it took to get that train going over an oil rig shot but we all know it was 3 days and 13 hours :p

[@werquantum]

Plus, great spots for fishing!

[@filthyanimal1067]

The beach you filmed from at the end is an excellent spot for sea trout. p.s permit required,available very cheaply from the shop in Evanton just before Alness.

[@markwilliammandigers1001]

Damn, I missed this when on holiday in Scotland in 2018.Went to Fortrose to watch the dolphins but didn't know about this! Must go back to Scotland, love it!

[@anishraja9655]

First video with the ending song! I can't believe you own an acoustic piano! I do too, unlike everybody else in the bloody world.

[@kain0m]

Ah, I've seen those on my vacation this summer. There is a nice cafe nearby with a load of picnic tables outside to view the scenery. Wondered why they were there, thanks for the insight.

[@markcantemail8018]

kain0m Did you visit the Hugh Miller Cottage when you were there ? Pittsford Shale is just a few miles up Monroe Ave Here where I live .

[@scottm5425]

I grew up there, always had rigs in the firth even when I was in primary school like over 35 years ago lol. Use to go in the diving clubs boat for tours round them.

[@farmertyler8087]

First time I ever saw an oil rig in person was out the window of my hotel room in Inverness

[@betterdaysareatoenailaway]

this dude is brilliant. how have i never seen this before?

[@eekee6034]

2:10 You'll find cafes like that in old shabby industrial estates all over Britain. They either have similarly delightful views or the special ambience of a main road right outside.

[@MrBizteck]

Love the voice over!

[@allawa]

Wow! i love this, Thank you for the video, Subscribed!

[@TexasGTO]

3:30 I seriously LOLed because I was wondering that exact thing!

[@allymac1314]

I used to see these every day when working.

[@JTManuel]

I've been watching your channel for a while now but I only just realized that I haven't subscribed. So... I've subscribed. 😁 You got my interest piqued. I'm here in Cumbria which is just a couple hours from Inverness, now I have to see them for myself.

[@TheTimTraveller]

Haha, thanks for making the leap! Yeah it's worth going, just to see something you don't see every day. And it's the Highlands, so there's loads of other good stuff around there once you're done with the rigs :)

[@AM-ni3sz]

I weas there in 98. It was a great view. I most likely spent three months on one of them.

[@andrewkowalski3976]

On my first ever tour offshore in 1996 the rig I worked on was towed into Invergorden for a refit of new equipment before starting a new contract with a different oil company. I heard that the TV programme “ roughnecks” was filmed on a rig docked there.

[@kmmining1359]

1996? Petrolia? Kan Tan IV?

[@leslieallan392]

Notice you didn’t film the high street with all the closed shops,charity shops ,closed bank,closed cinema and all the other signs of total neglect. But your right about the scenery

[@MySonBand]

Came past these on my roadtrip last year, was wondering what was up with them. At the time I was guessing they were newly produced waiting to be send out. Interesting to learn what was really up.

[@Sitasitikas]

Unexpected LTFC reference. Love it

[@ShallowPlane]

They are beautiful I’d love to get a closer look

[@TRPGpilot]

Nice video.

[@geoffreycoan]

Great video as ever Tim. The price of oil must have improved as there were only a couple of rigs in the Forth when I flew over there last summer