Petrobras 36 Oil Platform

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The Petrobras 36 Oil Platform (P36) was the largest floating production platform in the world prior to its sinking March 20, 2001. It was owned by Petrobras, a semi-public^[1] Brazilian oil company headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. The cost of the platform was US$350 million.

It was built at Fincantieri's Genoa yard in 1995 as a semi-submersible drilling rig. The 33,000 metric tonne (36,300 short ton) rig was converted in Canada to the world's largest oil production platform.

'P36' was operating for Petrobras on the Roncador Field, 130 km (80 miles) off the Brazilian coast, producing about 84,000 barrels of crude per day.

In the early hours of March 15, 2001 there were two unexplained explosions in the aft starboard column. At this time there were 175 people on the rig and 11 were killed. Following the explosions, the rig developed a 16-degree list, sufficient to allow down-flooding from the submerged fairlead boxes.

Salvage teams tried over the weekend to save the platform by pumping nitrogen and compressed air into the tanks to expel the water, but they abandoned the rig after bad weather.

The platform sank on March 20, in 1200 meters (3,900 feet) of water with an estimated 1,500 metric tonnes (1,650 short tons) of crude oil remaining on board.

Some argued that Petrobras has been lax in its safety and environmental standards as it attempted to increase production and cut costs.