Alexander Kielland (platform)
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Alexander Kielland was a Norwegian oil platform in the Ekofisk field. The platform, located approximately 320 km east from Dundee, Scotland, was owned by the U.S. company Phillips Petroleum. The platform was named after the Norwegian writer.
After 40 months of service, the floating drill platform was no longer used for drilling purposes but served as a living quarters for the nearby Edda platform. On March 27, 1980, while most of the crew were in the platform's cinema, a support-bracing collapsed and the platform capsized. Of the 212 people aboard, 123 were killed, making it, as of 2006, the worst disaster in Norwegian offshore history. Most of the workers were from Rogaland.
One year later, in March 1981, the investigative report concluded that the platform collapsed owing to a fatigue crack in one of its six bracings, (bracing D-6), which connected the collapsed D-leg to the rest of the platform. The platform was recovered in 1983 on the third attempt since the disaster. It was scuttled later that year, after a search for missing bodies was completed, as well as several tests to determine the cause of the disaster.
Not long after the Alexander Kielland platform capsized, its sister platform Henrik Ibsen tilted over, but was straightened up again.
A consequence of the Alexander Kielland disaster was the tightening of command organisation on offshore installations in the North Sea so there was a clear source of authority for ordering abandonment in crises. The 14 minutes between initial failure of the leg and the rig's eventual capsize left a window in which most of the personnel on board could have escaped, given a more effective command structure. But it would seem that no one took charge on the night. These revised command structures (more akin to conventional shipping command structures) are now frequently put into use when vessels lose anchorage in storm conditions, or when fixed installations are threatened by out-of-control vessels.
Approximately 18 months later the Ocean Ranger rig "turned turtle" in similar weather conditions off the Newfoundland coast. It is unclear to which extent that structural failure was a factor in this incident.
[edit] Bibliography
- Bignell, V & Fortune, J (1984) Understanding Systems Failures Ch. 5 ISBN 0-7190-0973-1
- The Alexander L. Kielland accident, report of a Norwegian public commission appointed by royal decree of March 28, 1980, presented to the Ministry of Justice and Police March, 1981 ISBN B0000ED27N
