Posted in accidents, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Alexander Kielland, anniversary, Magne Ognedal, Norway, PSA Norway on March 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Remembering the 123 offshore workers who lost their lives on this day in 1980 in one of the offshore industry’s great tragedies 🙏
See the excellent interview with Magne Ognedal that describes the evolution of Norway’s highly regarded offshore regulatory regime following the Alexander Kielland tragedy.
Posted in accidents, Offshore Energy - General, tagged 13 fatalities, ABS, Alexander Kielland, one survivor, rig sinking, Sedco 135 B, semisubmersible on July 13, 2023| 1 Comment »
Pioneering subsea engineer, JL Daeschler, brought to my attention the little known sinking of the Sedco 135 B semisubmersible drilling rig (pictured above) while in transit from Hiroshima to Borneo in 1965. 13 workers died in this tragedy. Miraculously, a single survivor, dehydrated and floating on a wooden pallet, was found days later by a passing Japanese trawler.
The bottle shape of the columns with the tapered top section was intended to reduce the influence of sea conditions when the rig was on the bottom. These early semisubmersibles sometimes operated in shallow water and sat on the seafloor. However, when buoyant, this type of column reduced the rig’s dynamic stability.
The 135 B tragedy resulted in stricter stability requirements by the American Bureau of Shipping (1968 ABS Rules for Building and Classing Offshore Mobile Drilling Units.)
JL informs me that the Alexander Kielland was a symmetrical pentagon design. Unfortunately, with this design, the failure of a major diagonal brace results in the complete loss of structural integrity.
Posted in accidents, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Alexander Kielland, North Sea, Norway on March 27, 2022| Leave a Comment »
123 workers lost their lives in the North Sea.
Tiå går og di seie tiå lege adle sår
Men ein mista bror e sår som aldri gror
Kanskje vil dårr gå vinter og vår
Sei oss klart kor dokker står
Håpte på at han sko komma
At han sko komma hjem igjen
Time is gone, they said; time would heal all wounds
Excerpt from the Alexander L. Kielland (1980) Song
But to lose a brother is a wound that will never heal
It could take as long as the never-ending winter and spring [i.e., never]
I hope that he should come
That he should come home again
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 