Working with gas and oil at high pressure, allied to sometimes ferocious weather conditions, makes an oil rig one of the most dangerous places on earth. An oil rig accident can be devastating and result in considerable loss of life.
The Piper Alpha Disaster
The Piper Alpha disaster, which occurred on July 6th, 1988, is the worst oil rig accident to date. The rig, operated by Occidental Petroleum and situated in the North Sea, was destroyed by three major explosions. The cause of the disaster was a gas pressurisation pump which was used without a safety valve in place. The valve had been removed for maintenance but the crucial paperwork which prevented the pump from being switched on went missing.
Just 61 men survived the Piper Alpha disaster, while 167 died. The dead included two crewmen from a rescue vessel and one man from the rig who succumbed to his injuries in hospital. A subsequent investigation severely criticised Occidental and led to numerous changes being made in a bid to improve offshore safety.
Alexander L. Kielland Rig Collapse
The loss of the Alexander L.Kielland semi-submersible accommodation rig was one of the most controversial offshore disasters ever. There were rumours of sabotage, although the official enquiry blamed the tragedy on metal fatigue.
The Alexander L. Kielland was located in the Ekofisk oil field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and provided accommodation for the crew of the Edda oil rig. The crew could go between the two rigs by means of a bridge, although this was not connected at the time of the disaster on March 27th, 1980.
Early in the evening a leg brace failed, which in turn caused others to fail. One of the rig's legs broke off and caused the structure to almost topple over. Around 15 minutes later it did fall over, by which time two lifeboats had made a successful escape. In total 89 crew members survived the disaster, but 123 did not. Three years later the Alexander L. Kielland was righted for an investigation to be carrier out, before eventually being scuttled.
Seacrest Drillship DisasterOn November 3rd, 1989, the drillship Seacrest was caught in the middle of Typhoon Gay and capsized. The official number of crew lost was 91, but there were many conflicting reports about the number of fatalities and the number of survivors. The Seacrest was 110 metres long and owned by UNOCAL. The tragedy happened in the Platong gas field, in the Gulf of Thailand.
Ocean Ranger Oil Rig Accident
In 1982 the semi-submersible Ocean Ranger oil rig was on hire to Mobil, operating on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic. Early in the morning of February 15th the rig's ballast room began taking on water, due to a broken window. A mayday was transmitted and rescue vessels rushed to the scene.
Despite the crew abandoning the stricken rig all 84 perished. Rescue boats were unable to save anyone and, eventually, the rig fell into the ocean. Only 22 bodies were eventually recovered. A subsequent enquiry identified design flaws and the lack of proper survival equipment as the main reasons for the fourth worst oil rig accident in history.
 |
