At Least 32 Dead in Worst Offshore Disaster since Piper Alpha

" Rescue was hindered due to 8m waves and strong winds. Just a few hours after the incident and as Oil and Gas People were getting reports of people trapped in lifeboats blown against the platform, a spokesman for the State Oil Company (SOCAR) went on record saying that everyone had been safely evacuated. The region is notorious for controlling the media and very little information has been released by SOCAR"

At Least 32 Dead in Worst Offshore Disaster since Piper Alpha

This is a little late in coming to the news but I have posted it for the other members who follow such things.

Update- One of the platform’s own lifeboats became trapped, after being blown under the platform’s topside and in amongst its steel jacket, during the evacuation by the crew. The lifeboat was capable of holding 42, however it is believed to have had 26 workers onboard during the time of the evacuation.

If is currently unclear if the 26 offshore workers onboard the lifeboat survived. The orange lifeboat can clearly be seen on the flyover video at the bottom of the article.

aditional source

It seems the Azerbaijan’s state run oil company has had a history of safety issues.

The different videos from both sources are pretty horrific.

How awful. Imagine being able to get into a lifeboat only to have the high winds blow you straight into burning flames.

originally posted by: stormcell
How awful. Imagine being able to get into a lifeboat only to have the high winds blow you straight into burning flames.

Did I hear some jumped hundreds of feet to their death to keep from burning up?

Oil platforms are the most potentially dangerous things out at sea…

As long as they are working everything is good, light a match and… Pow!

a reply to: intrptr

It is a dangerous business even when all the safety procedures are followed. It's even worse when profits override spending money on maintenance.

originally posted by: quercusrex
a reply to: intrptr

It is a dangerous business even when all the safety procedures are followed. It's even worse when profits override spending money on maintenance.

Price for oil is dropping too, isn't it? That can't be good for maintenance and training expenditure…

a reply to: intrptr
Insurance can pay for a lot of things. I've known several old worn-out workover rigs to mysteriously go up in flames.

Seems to happen more often with the price per barrel drops.

Videos from a search on YouTube...

EDIT: Anyone know what type of vessel that is in the first video below @ 1:20 min.? I once read that the pianist Liberace had a boat painted with piano keys on the side of the hull similar to the paint job on the one in the video...

Point of order - it would have been nice to know WHERE this took place. I do understand the title didn't say, but it is helpful.

Thank you for the post.

a reply to: Murgatroid

Thank you for uploading the videos. That is a skillset I have not yet mastered.

a reply to: quercusrex

I thought the rig being state owned was supposed to take care of that "evil" profit motive?

a reply to: FyreByrd
In the Caspian sea off the coast of Azerbaijan.

a reply to: quercusrex

No, thank YOU for posting the story...

I suspect that there are many others besides myself who use ATS as their primary source of news.

After watching those videos again I realized just how severe that weather was.

I think it was much worse than it appeared.

I am still trying to hunt up the details of when and where this rig was built and by whom. I will post whatever I can find.

ETA: Of the 14 SOCAR offshore rigs that I found listed, only 8 were platforms. (no listings for platform 9 or 10, platform 10 being the one that just caught fire.) For those 8 I haven't found any construction dates but the remaining 6 rigs were built during the Soviet era in the early 80's at the Astrakhan shipyards in Russia. I am assuming the platform rigs were as well. This shipyard is on the Volga river at the Caspian sea.

Here's some more background info :

“We are in talks” on the terms of BP extending its role as operator of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli, or ACG, fields when the existing agreement expires in 2024, Rovnaq Abdullayev, CEO of State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan, or Socar, told reporters in Baku on Friday. He declined to give further details.

BP, the biggest shareholder in the group developing the ACG fields, gets about 5% of its oil output from the country, according to a 2014 annual report. A spokeswoman for BP declined to comment on a new deal.

Others in the development group include Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., Statoil ASA, Turkiye Petrolleri AO, Itochu Corp., ONGC Videsh Ltd. and Socar.

WorldOil

a reply to: quercusrex

Like the Exxon Valdes this will end up in the courts.

My wife and I watched a doco one night on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) TV in Australia on the Exxon Valdes and 15 years and 5 suicides from a 300 person fishing village later, the oil company paid out an equivalent of 3 days worth of profits as compensation to finalise the case.

originally posted by: quercusrex
a reply to: FyreByrd
In the Caspian sea off the coast of Azerbaijan.

Thank you - but I already followed your link to find out for myself.

I worked in the Gulf of Mexico until August, laid off.
Here in the U.S. there are some really strict rules as to running and documenting EVERYTHING that goes on the platform. Granted there have been some accidents, but by and large, are very safe. As long as everyone follows protocols. I couldn't imagine and wouldnt want to, work for M.E. oil company. Knowing the safety protocols that are in place here. I'm sure it's much less overseas.

What a way to turn an oil rig into a man-made volcanic island! Seriously, the chance to ignite the main pump line should've been entirely eliminated. I mean, what happened, someone flick their Bic lighter too close to the vein? These accidents should be 100% preventable through intelligent blueprints and design.