The remaining oil rig blemishing the Grand Harbour vista was towed out of Palumbo Shipyard on Wednesday, a fortnight after the removal of the first that had been parked in the historic harbour for years. 
 
The removal of Atwood Aurora on Wednesday followed an agreement between Transport Malta and Palumbo to shift its operations, after the environmental ombudsman confirmed the shipyard had no right to be berthing oil rigs there. 
 
While oil rigs would still be permitted to enter the harbour, from now on they could not stay on for an indeterminate time, Transport Malta spokesperson Roderick Zerafa told Times of Malta. 

 
Along with vessels being repaired in the harbour, oil rigs would be permitted to remain for two months, and needed to apply for an extension to stay longer, Zerafa said. 
 
“With this rig gone, there are none left in the Grand Harbour, but this doesn’t mean others won’t enter as they are an important industry for the country,” he said. 
 
Anger over the oil rigs stationed idly in Palumbo’s Shipyard first boiled over in 2017, when then Valletta 2018 Foundation chairman Jason Micallef called for the removal of the massive structures, which he said ruined the aesthetic of Grand Harbour. 
 
A Palumbo Malta Shipyards spokesperson had informed Times of Malta a two-year contract to revamp the jack-up oil rig would expire in 2018, however, in 2020 the rig in question was still there. 
 
Controversy over the oil rigs sparked up again last year when Azzjoni Tuna Artna called on the ombudsman to look into a number of irregularities within the shipyard.