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

Be the first to react!

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.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

See also

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

A Chinese factory in Guangdong is assembling a humanoid robot every 30 minutes while Tesla, Figure, and Boston Dynamics still struggle to deliver 10 thousand per year.

Elon Musk’s internet comes to mobile: Starlink technology connects smartphones without an antenna via satellite, works even without carrier signal, already costs just US$10 extra in the US, and could arrive in Brazil as an included benefit.

In Niger, mud buildings have stood for ten generations while the world spends billions on concrete and steel, now African architects are proving at the Venice Biennale and in real projects that red earth can be the smartest and most sustainable building material of the 21st century.

Seven world powers including the US, China, and Russia are spending €22 billion on a reactor in the south of France that aims to confine plasma at 150 million degrees Celsius, ten times the temperature of the Sun’s core, using a magnetic field capable of lifting an entire aircraft carrier.

While Brazil has been discussing bullet trains for 16 years, China delivers 5 new high-speed lines in 2026, surpasses 50,000 km of HSR, and moves 1 billion passengers in a single year.

Secret chamber sealed 4,500 years ago found in the Pyramid of Khufu, and Hawass announces its opening to the world in 2026

With a wingspan of 152 meters, 76 tires, and a capacity to carry 1,270 tons, the Boeing Pelican was the giant “flying ship” that promised to cross oceans close to the water on an invisible air cushion beneath its wings.

North Korea faces traffic jams for the first time in history, and residents of Pyongyang are already having difficulty parking, with yellow license plates of private cars everywhere and analysts estimating that the number of private vehicles could exceed 20,000 next year.

From the Moon to the construction site: NASA’s 3D printing technology now erects buildings on Earth with record speed and zero waste

A delegation representing 12 trillion dollars in economic power landed in Beijing alongside Trump, with Musk and the CEO of Nvidia aboard Air Force One: the mission is to pressure Xi to open the Chinese market.

The Central Bank of China reinforces its commitment to accelerate the use of the yuan in international trade and creates its own transaction infrastructure called CIPS. The goal is not to compete with the dollar, but to offer an alternative to other countries.

Pope Leo XIV sees an old dispute return with force after an ultratraditionalist group challenges a central rule of the Catholic Church, insisting on ordaining bishops without Rome’s approval and potentially causing a new schism in the Catholic Church.

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

A Chinese factory in Guangdong is assembling a humanoid robot every 30 minutes while Tesla, Figure, and Boston Dynamics still struggle to deliver 10 thousand per year.

Elon Musk’s internet comes to mobile: Starlink technology connects smartphones without an antenna via satellite, works even without carrier signal, already costs just US$10 extra in the US, and could arrive in Brazil as an included benefit.

In Niger, mud buildings have stood for ten generations while the world spends billions on concrete and steel, now African architects are proving at the Venice Biennale and in real projects that red earth can be the smartest and most sustainable building material of the 21st century.

Seven world powers including the US, China, and Russia are spending €22 billion on a reactor in the south of France that aims to confine plasma at 150 million degrees Celsius, ten times the temperature of the Sun’s core, using a magnetic field capable of lifting an entire aircraft carrier.

While Brazil has been discussing bullet trains for 16 years, China delivers 5 new high-speed lines in 2026, surpasses 50,000 km of HSR, and moves 1 billion passengers in a single year.

Secret chamber sealed 4,500 years ago found in the Pyramid of Khufu, and Hawass announces its opening to the world in 2026

With a wingspan of 152 meters, 76 tires, and a capacity to carry 1,270 tons, the Boeing Pelican was the giant “flying ship” that promised to cross oceans close to the water on an invisible air cushion beneath its wings.

Explosion in Jaguaré, SP destroys up to ten houses, leaves one dead and injured after street work

A 29-year-old man died after leaving a Mother’s Day lunch and his car fell into a river in Luiz Alves, in the Itajaí Valley, SC, on Sunday (10). Alisson Rafael Feder Pontes lived in Jaraguá do Sul.

A giant ship, set to depart from Brazil for Venezuela, sank with 5,000 cattle and tons of oil, and has remained at the bottom of the sea for over 10 years, rendering the beach unusable and causing environmental impacts.

Ignored alert at the Dukono volcano ends in disaster in Indonesia, with three deaths, 10 missing, injured, and difficult searches in a region engulfed by volcanic explosions.

Henrique and Juliano’s helicopter crashes on a farm in Tocantins, hangs from a tree, and leads the duo’s family to reassure fans after an emergency landing.

North Korea faces traffic jams for the first time in history, and residents of Pyongyang are already having difficulty parking, with yellow license plates of private cars everywhere and analysts estimating that the number of private vehicles could exceed 20,000 next year.

From the Moon to the construction site: NASA’s 3D printing technology now erects buildings on Earth with record speed and zero waste

A delegation representing 12 trillion dollars in economic power landed in Beijing alongside Trump, with Musk and the CEO of Nvidia aboard Air Force One: the mission is to pressure Xi to open the Chinese market.

The Central Bank of China reinforces its commitment to accelerate the use of the yuan in international trade and creates its own transaction infrastructure called CIPS. The goal is not to compete with the dollar, but to offer an alternative to other countries.

Pope Leo XIV sees an old dispute return with force after an ultratraditionalist group challenges a central rule of the Catholic Church, insisting on ordaining bishops without Rome’s approval and potentially causing a new schism in the Catholic Church.