1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class. It's a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hi, I'm Eves and welcome to This Day 3 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:11,600 Speaker 1: in History Class, a show that uncovers history one day 4 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 1: at a time. Today is July. The day was July 5 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:31,360 Speaker 1: six n the Piper Alpha oil rig on ten miles 6 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:36,160 Speaker 1: northeast of Aberdeen, Scotland, exploded. One hundred and sixty seven 7 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:42,120 Speaker 1: people died in the disaster. A consortium including Occidental Petroleum, 8 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:47,199 Speaker 1: Texaco Britain International, Thompson and Texas Petroleum owned Piper Alpha 9 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:52,199 Speaker 1: and it was operated by Accidental. The Piper Alpha platform 10 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:55,120 Speaker 1: was located in four hundred and seventy four ft or 11 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 1: one d and forty four meters of water in the 12 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: North Sea. Oil and gas pipelines connected the platform to 13 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: two other production platforms called Claymore A and Tartan A, 14 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 1: and a manifold compression platform known as MCP one. Piper 15 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:16,039 Speaker 1: Alpha produced hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil every day, 16 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:18,160 Speaker 1: more than any other in the world at the time. 17 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 1: The Piper Alpha platform separated the fluid produced by the 18 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:26,200 Speaker 1: wells into oil, gas and condensate. The oil was pumped 19 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:29,080 Speaker 1: through a pipeline to the Flatta Oil terminal and orkney. 20 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:32,120 Speaker 1: The condensate was injected back into the oil to be 21 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: sent to shore, and the gas was sent through a 22 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:38,960 Speaker 1: pipeline to the Manifold compression platform. The production deck level 23 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 1: of the platform was made up of four modules. Module 24 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 1: A was the wellhead, B was the oil separation module, 25 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: C was the gas compression module, and D was the 26 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: power generation and utilities module. There were firewalls between the modules, 27 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: but they were not blast resistant. The main production areas 28 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 1: had a fire and gas detection system. On July six, 29 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:08,240 Speaker 1: one condensate injection pump Pump A, was out of operation 30 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 1: for maintenance. Pump B was an operation. Three jobs were 31 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:17,560 Speaker 1: supposed to be done on Pump A, preventative maintenance, repair 32 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:21,160 Speaker 1: of the coupling, and re certification of a pressure safety valve. 33 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 1: That day, the relief valve was removed for testing, and 34 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:28,240 Speaker 1: by the time the day shift was over the job 35 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,080 Speaker 1: was not done. The relief valve was not replaced, but 36 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 1: this was not communicated to the night shift personnel. After 37 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:39,480 Speaker 1: Pump B went down at around nine p m, the 38 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 1: lead production operator decided to start Pump A, but about 39 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:49,279 Speaker 1: five minutes later alarms started going off. Around ten PM, 40 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: just as the operator put his hand out to cancel 41 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:54,720 Speaker 1: the alarms, there was an explosion in the gas compression 42 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: module of the Piper Alpha platform, blowing the production operator 43 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:03,400 Speaker 1: across the room. Gas condensate leaking from the pump ignited. 44 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:07,800 Speaker 1: Almost immediately after the explosion, a pool fire broke out 45 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 1: in the oil separation module. A pool fire is a 46 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 1: diffusion flame where a layer of volatile liquid fuel evaporates 47 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:19,240 Speaker 1: and burns. The oil pool fire created a plume of 48 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: smoke that enveloped the platform at the production deck and above. 49 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: The spreading fire got to over seven hundred degrees celsius 50 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:32,400 Speaker 1: or about degrees parrenheight. The offshore installation manager sent a 51 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: may day signal. Though there was a fire water system, 52 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: the sprinkler heads did not work properly because the explosion 53 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 1: had disabled the main communication system. The platforms attached to 54 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: Piper Alpha continued producing and pumping oil for a while. 55 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:52,240 Speaker 1: Since there was so much smoke, the lifeboats were not accessible, 56 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:58,000 Speaker 1: so people tried to escape using other methods. Some climbed 57 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: down knotted ropes to the sea. Others jumped into the 58 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: seat from higher heights, including the Hella deck. Nearby vessels 59 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 1: sent fast rescue crafts to the scene. Though about fifty 60 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 1: nine people survived the disaster, one and sixty seven died. 61 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:19,039 Speaker 1: It was the deadliest offshore oil disaster ever. The platform 62 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 1: was destroyed and by the next morning only the wellhead 63 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: module remained. The fire burned for three weeks before Oil 64 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 1: will fireman Paul Neil A Dare extinguished it. Scottish Judge 65 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:35,160 Speaker 1: William Cullen led an inquiry into the causes of the disaster. 66 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: The Culin report was released in November of It found 67 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,880 Speaker 1: that Occidental did not have proper safety and maintenance procedures 68 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:48,360 Speaker 1: and that the condensate leak was caused by the maintenance 69 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:52,359 Speaker 1: work happening on a pump in safety valve. It also 70 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:58,240 Speaker 1: recommended new procedures for training workers, operating equipment and designing platforms, 71 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:02,279 Speaker 1: as safety managements, app communications and safety systems have proved 72 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:07,240 Speaker 1: inadequate in the disaster. The disaster exposed problems with offshore 73 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:12,880 Speaker 1: regulations and lead to the Offshore Installations Safety Case Regulations 74 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: in the UK. I'm Eve Jeffcote and hopefully you know 75 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:20,599 Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 76 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:26,320 Speaker 1: You can follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at 77 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:32,279 Speaker 1: t d I h C Podcast. Thank you so much 78 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:35,160 Speaker 1: for listening and I hope to see you again tomorrow 79 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: for more tidbits of history. For more podcasts from I 80 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:47,400 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 81 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.