Piper Alpha e o Inferno na Terra: O acidente offshore de 1988 mais devastador que o Deepwater Horizon

Piper Alpha and the Hell on Earth: The Most Devastating Offshore Accident of 1988 That Outperformed Deepwater Horizon

Written by Paulo Nogueira

Published on 07/07/2020 at 11:24

Updated on 23/07/2023 at 12:04

Plataforma Piper Alpha em Chamas em 1988

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Ask someone in 2020 to name the worst offshore disaster in the world, and they will likely say the Deepwater Horizon accident, a semi-submersible drilling rig operated by BP that was in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. But something far more devastating happened 32 years ago today.

Piper Alpha in the Final Stage Before Sinking in the North Sea

This simple sinking buoy located a few hundred meters from the Piper Bravo is all that remains of Piper Alpha. Flames controlled, it floated silently as a memorial to the 167 men who died that night, many of whose bodies are still buried in the tangled wreckage beneath the North Sea.

Most major disasters do not result from a “single big event”, they escalate along a chain of small ones — any of which has the potential to change or completely disrupt the outcome.

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Just before 10 PM on July 6, 1988, a set of events conspired to create a situation that could only be described as Hell on Earth.

There was no turning back. The fire consumed more than half a ton of natural gas per second, equivalent to the entire domestic consumption of the United Kingdom, melting the 20,000-ton platform from the inside out.

Although no criminal charges were brought after the disaster, the UK’s offshore industry accepted all 106 recommendations put forward by the Cullen Inquiry. Recommendations that completely reshaped the sector and turned it into a widely copied model around the world. If those lessons were also learned/remembered in the USA and Brazil, perhaps the Deepwater Horizon could have had a different outcome …

Piper Alpha and the Hell on Earth: The Most Devastating Offshore Accident of 1988 That Outperformed Deepwater Horizon

Major Oil, Gas, and Energy Event Will Take Place in Brazil: Macaé Energy Will Gather Petrobras, Equinor, Prio, Among Other Suppliers and Energy Executives for Business, Networking, and Employment Opportunities

At just 14 years old, a boy creates a system without energy, using steel pipes buried in the ground, that irrigates seedlings with moisture from the air, to combat the water scarcity threatening reforestation in northern China.

Where there was only sand and wind at 40 degrees, China built a megacity of 500,000 inhabitants with farms, wineries, and universities in the middle of the desert using melted glacier water from hundreds of kilometers away.

At over 8,800 meters above sea level, the summit of Mount Everest is made up of rocks that originated at the bottom of an ocean about 500 million years ago and were pushed to the highest point on Earth by the collision of tectonic plates.

Scientists open a 1-million-year-old capsule in New Zealand and find fossils of 16 species that reveal extinctions caused by volcanoes and climate changes before humans.

Renewable energy advances over protected areas in Brazil, and a survey by the Energy Transition Observatory reveals silent impacts that challenge environmental conservation and pressure sensitive traditional territories.

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Contaminated water from uranium threatens mining areas, and Chinese scientists have created a solar-powered living filter that could change environmental decontamination.

Church from 1888 becomes a mansion of over 330 m² in Canada after a renovation of R$ 3.4 million and is eventually sold for nearly R$ 4.3 million.

The Brazilian state accelerates industrial competitiveness with a focus on the extraction of strategic minerals to boost the energy transition in Goiás.

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Couple buys 1846 church in ruins for R$ 660,000, invests R$ 3.2 million in renovations, transforms it into a millionaire mansion, and even preserved a historic cemetery with over 300 graves.

“No one will make us change the Pix,” says Lula after the US report.

Piper Alpha and the Hell on Earth: The Most Devastating Offshore Accident of 1988 That Outperformed Deepwater Horizon

Major Oil, Gas, and Energy Event Will Take Place in Brazil: Macaé Energy Will Gather Petrobras, Equinor, Prio, Among Other Suppliers and Energy Executives for Business, Networking, and Employment Opportunities

At just 14 years old, a boy creates a system without energy, using steel pipes buried in the ground, that irrigates seedlings with moisture from the air, to combat the water scarcity threatening reforestation in northern China.

Where there was only sand and wind at 40 degrees, China built a megacity of 500,000 inhabitants with farms, wineries, and universities in the middle of the desert using melted glacier water from hundreds of kilometers away.

At over 8,800 meters above sea level, the summit of Mount Everest is made up of rocks that originated at the bottom of an ocean about 500 million years ago and were pushed to the highest point on Earth by the collision of tectonic plates.

Scientists open a 1-million-year-old capsule in New Zealand and find fossils of 16 species that reveal extinctions caused by volcanoes and climate changes before humans.

Renewable energy advances over protected areas in Brazil, and a survey by the Energy Transition Observatory reveals silent impacts that challenge environmental conservation and pressure sensitive traditional territories.

Excel dominates job openings even in the era of artificial intelligence: analysis reveals high demand and highlights 5 courses to move beyond the basics and advance in the job market.

Contaminated water from uranium threatens mining areas, and Chinese scientists have created a solar-powered living filter that could change environmental decontamination.

Historic building in the United States reports electrical fire, calls firefighters, and exposes an issue with an appliance that most Brazilians also have at home.

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Church from 1888 becomes a mansion of over 330 m² in Canada after a renovation of R$ 3.4 million and is eventually sold for nearly R$ 4.3 million.

The Brazilian state accelerates industrial competitiveness with a focus on the extraction of strategic minerals to boost the energy transition in Goiás.

How an innovative city combines high technology, well-being, and sustainability to become the largest reference in clean energy on the planet.

Couple buys 1846 church in ruins for R$ 660,000, invests R$ 3.2 million in renovations, transforms it into a millionaire mansion, and even preserved a historic cemetery with over 300 graves.

“No one will make us change the Pix,” says Lula after the US report.