Oil workers airlifted off blazing North Sea platform

Published on Friday 17 March 2006 01:40

A MAJOR investigation was launched yesterday into the cause of a blaze that led to nearly 130 oil workers being airlifted from a North Sea platform.

A total of 128 non-essential personnel were evacuated from Shell's Tern installation, 105 miles north-east of the Shetland Islands, in the early hours of yesterday morning after an electrical fire in its gas compression module.

The government's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is looking into the fire, which is believed to have begun after a high-voltage electrical motor overheated.

It took firefighting teams on board the platform four hours to extinguish the blaze.

At the height of the emergency, four helicopters, including one from Norway and BP's new infield search and rescue craft, were scrambled to airlift the non-essential personnel to three neighbouring installations, North Cormorant, Dunlin and Brent Bravo. A core crew of 56 personnel was left on board the installation.

A spokesman for Shell said the blaze had been triggered by an electrical fire at 12:50am.

"The fire was extinguished at 4:50am. There was a lot of smoke and they had to wait quite a while before they could send the teams in," he said.

"No-one was hurt and all personnel have been accounted for. All safety systems worked as designed and the platform has been safely shut down and is stable.

"A full investigation has been launched into the cause of the fire. All appropriate authorities have been advised, including the HSE."

A team of investigators from the HSE was flown out to the platform yesterday and the company has also sent its own team there to begin an in-house investigation into the cause of the blaze.

All 128 personnel evacuated at the height of the emergency had been flown back to the platform by yesterday evening.

The Shell spokesman said the shutdown on the Tern, which produces 25,000 barrels of oil a day, would have no effect on the security of energy supply to the United Kingdom as a pre-planned 16-day closure had already been scheduled to start at midnight last night.

Jake Molloy, the general secretary of OILC, the dedicated oil-workers' union, said his organisation had received reports from members on board the platform that there had been a "loud bang" in the gas compression module before the fire.

He said: "When they lost power, the various sprinkler systems in different parts of the installation were firing off, causing a bit of confusion about what exactly the extent of the fire was.

"Obviously, there was some concern and some anxiety, but overall they report that the evacuation went like clockwork."

The Shell spokesman said the company was aware of the reports of a bang being heard before the blaze began, but he stressed no hydrocarbons had been involved in the outbreak.

He said that the platform's accommodation unit was two decks and 20 metres above the gas compression module and that these two units were also separated by a vertical wall which was both fireproof and blastproof.