The recently grounded oil rig Transocean Winner was refloated at 10 pm on Monday in Dalmore Bay, more than two weeks after it ran aground due to severe weather at the site, the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency said.
After the authorities refloated the rig, it was stabilised and was scheduled to resume its journey later that night.
Transocean Winner is expected to be towed to Broad Bay by two tugs, where it is scheduled to arrive in the evening hours of August 23.
The agency said that there would be a 1000 meter exclusion zone around the Transocean Winner for the duration of the passage from Dalmore Bay to Broad Bay, on the east coast of Lewis.
The 1983-built Transocean Winner was under tow when it ran into trouble on August 7 after encountering severe weather conditions west of the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. At the time of the incident there were no personnel on board the rig.
Initial damage assessment inspections revealed that two of the four diesel fuel tanks on the rig appear to have been breached.
The rig was reported to be carrying 280 metric tonnes of diesel oil on board in total, split between a number of separate tanks.
Transocean, the owner of the rig, earlier removed around 200 tonnes of hydrocarbons, consisting of mainly diesel oil with small amounts of base oil and brine, onto the supply vessel Olympic Orion.