Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Piper Alpha
Piper Alpha was an oil platform located in the North Sea about 120 miles (190 km) north-east of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was operated by Occidental Petroleum and began production in December 1976, initially as an oil-only platform, but later converted to add gas production.
Piper Alpha exploded and collapsed under the effect of sustained gas jet fires in the night between 6 and 7 July 1988, killing 165 of the men on board (30 of whose bodies were never recovered), as well as a further two rescuers. Sixty-one workers escaped and survived. The total insured loss was about £1.7 billion (equivalent to £4.4 billion in 2023), making it one of the costliest man-made catastrophes ever. At the time of the disaster, the platform accounted for roughly 10% of North Sea oil and gas production and was the world’s single largest oil producer. The accident is the worst ever offshore oil and gas disaster in terms of lives lost, and comparable only to the Deepwater Horizon disaster in terms of industry impact. The inquiry blamed it on inadequate maintenance and safety procedures by Occidental, though no charges were brought. A separate civil suit resulted in a finding of negligence against two workers who were killed in the accident.
A memorial sculpture is located in the Rose Garden of Hazlehead Park in Aberdeen.
Four companies (Occidental Petroleum (UK) Ltd, Getty Oil International (England) Ltd, Allied Chemical (Great Britain) Ltd, and Thomson Scottish Associates Ltd) formed a joint venture and obtained an oil-exploration licence in 1972. They discovered the Piper oilfield located at 58°28′N 0°15′E / 58.467°N 0.250°E in January 1973, and began fabrication of the platform, pipelines, and onshore support structures. Oil production started in December 1976, less than four years after discovery (a record rarely beaten ever since), with about 250,000 barrels (40,000 m3) of oil per day, later increasing to 360,000 barrels (57,000 m3). Production declined to 125,000 barrels (19,900 m3) by 1988.
A large, fixed platform, Piper Alpha was located in the Piper oilfield, around 120 miles (190 km) northeast of Aberdeen in 474 ft (144 m) of water. Piper Alpha produced crude oil and natural gas from 36 wells. OPCAL built the Flotta oil terminal in the Orkney Islands to receive and process oil from the Piper, Claymore (both operated by OPCAL), and Tartan (Texaco) oilfields, each with its own platform. One 30-inch (76 cm) diameter main oil pipeline ran 128 miles (206 km) from Piper Alpha to Flotta.
The Piper platform was the hub of a network of pipelines connecting it to nearby platforms and to shore. The Tartan field fed oil to Claymore, with the co-mingled oil flowing from Claymore through a short pipeline to join the Piper-Flotta line some 20 miles (32 km) to the west of Piper.
Separate 18-inch (46 cm) diameter gas pipelines were run from the Tartan platform to Piper, and from Piper to the Total-operated manifold compression platform MCP-01 some 30 miles (48 km) to the northwest. Another 16-inch (41 cm) line connected Claymore to Piper, primarily to provide gas from Piper to the Claymore gas lift system. MCP-01 would receive the gas from Piper and Tartan, as well as from the Frigg gas field (through a separate pipeline), and send the resulting stream to St Fergus Gas Terminal through a 108 miles (174 km), 2 × 32-inch pipeline.
The inventory of the pipelines was significant, with the main oil line to Flotta containing around 70,000 tonnes of oil and the three gas lines linking Piper to the surrounding platforms close to 2,000 tonnes of high-pressure gas. The pressure in the Tartan–Piper and Piper–MCP-01 pipelines was around 127 bar.
Hub AI
Piper Alpha AI simulator
(@Piper Alpha_simulator)
Piper Alpha
Piper Alpha was an oil platform located in the North Sea about 120 miles (190 km) north-east of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was operated by Occidental Petroleum and began production in December 1976, initially as an oil-only platform, but later converted to add gas production.
Piper Alpha exploded and collapsed under the effect of sustained gas jet fires in the night between 6 and 7 July 1988, killing 165 of the men on board (30 of whose bodies were never recovered), as well as a further two rescuers. Sixty-one workers escaped and survived. The total insured loss was about £1.7 billion (equivalent to £4.4 billion in 2023), making it one of the costliest man-made catastrophes ever. At the time of the disaster, the platform accounted for roughly 10% of North Sea oil and gas production and was the world’s single largest oil producer. The accident is the worst ever offshore oil and gas disaster in terms of lives lost, and comparable only to the Deepwater Horizon disaster in terms of industry impact. The inquiry blamed it on inadequate maintenance and safety procedures by Occidental, though no charges were brought. A separate civil suit resulted in a finding of negligence against two workers who were killed in the accident.
A memorial sculpture is located in the Rose Garden of Hazlehead Park in Aberdeen.
Four companies (Occidental Petroleum (UK) Ltd, Getty Oil International (England) Ltd, Allied Chemical (Great Britain) Ltd, and Thomson Scottish Associates Ltd) formed a joint venture and obtained an oil-exploration licence in 1972. They discovered the Piper oilfield located at 58°28′N 0°15′E / 58.467°N 0.250°E in January 1973, and began fabrication of the platform, pipelines, and onshore support structures. Oil production started in December 1976, less than four years after discovery (a record rarely beaten ever since), with about 250,000 barrels (40,000 m3) of oil per day, later increasing to 360,000 barrels (57,000 m3). Production declined to 125,000 barrels (19,900 m3) by 1988.
A large, fixed platform, Piper Alpha was located in the Piper oilfield, around 120 miles (190 km) northeast of Aberdeen in 474 ft (144 m) of water. Piper Alpha produced crude oil and natural gas from 36 wells. OPCAL built the Flotta oil terminal in the Orkney Islands to receive and process oil from the Piper, Claymore (both operated by OPCAL), and Tartan (Texaco) oilfields, each with its own platform. One 30-inch (76 cm) diameter main oil pipeline ran 128 miles (206 km) from Piper Alpha to Flotta.
The Piper platform was the hub of a network of pipelines connecting it to nearby platforms and to shore. The Tartan field fed oil to Claymore, with the co-mingled oil flowing from Claymore through a short pipeline to join the Piper-Flotta line some 20 miles (32 km) to the west of Piper.
Separate 18-inch (46 cm) diameter gas pipelines were run from the Tartan platform to Piper, and from Piper to the Total-operated manifold compression platform MCP-01 some 30 miles (48 km) to the northwest. Another 16-inch (41 cm) line connected Claymore to Piper, primarily to provide gas from Piper to the Claymore gas lift system. MCP-01 would receive the gas from Piper and Tartan, as well as from the Frigg gas field (through a separate pipeline), and send the resulting stream to St Fergus Gas Terminal through a 108 miles (174 km), 2 × 32-inch pipeline.
The inventory of the pipelines was significant, with the main oil line to Flotta containing around 70,000 tonnes of oil and the three gas lines linking Piper to the surrounding platforms close to 2,000 tonnes of high-pressure gas. The pressure in the Tartan–Piper and Piper–MCP-01 pipelines was around 127 bar.