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

A giant printer called the “Ferrari” of concrete has landed in Latin America and can already build a 120-square-meter house in just 48 hours, making the traditional construction site look like something from the last century.

Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt has ceased to be a climatic phenomenon and has become a biological system that feeds on itself, with 8,000 kilometers in length, 37 million tons of algae, and scientists confirm that it is now permanent.

A British company has installed in the middle of the ocean the world’s first floating platform that generates electricity 24 hours a day from the temperature difference between the surface and the depths of the Atlantic, without relying on wind or sun.

Brazil will harvest a record crop of up to 357 million tons of grains, but it does not have the capacity to store a large part of it. The storage deficit has reached the highest level in history and is equivalent to almost the entire production of Argentina.

Engineers had to pour concrete mixed with tons of ice throughout entire nights in the Dubai desert to erect the Burj Khalifa; any carelessness could clog the pipes half a mile high.

The James Webb telescope spotted a planet 700 light-years from Earth with mornings full of sand clouds and nights with clear skies, the temperature difference between the two hemispheres reaches an impressive 170 degrees.

In a locked room of a R$ 220 million mansion in Brazil about to be demolished, a R$ 400,000 Brancusi sculpture has just been found.

Owner of the largest pig farm on the planet, the Chinese company Muyuan Foods sent executives to Mato Grosso to study pig production in Brazil, as a step by China to get closer to the source of feed and ensure food security, although the investment has not yet been confirmed.

Archaeologists discovered in Pompeii the remains of a man who faced the eruption of Vesuvius holding a bowl on his head as a shield, a lamp to light the way, and ten bronze coins to restart life, in a find that confirms the account written by Pliny the Younger almost 2,000 years ago.

At 16 years old and without money to buy equipment, a student from the Sertão of Paraíba built his first telescope with two margarine buckets and a wall mirror, and today he brings space observations to schools and squares in the region with increasingly powerful devices.

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

A giant printer called the “Ferrari” of concrete has landed in Latin America and can already build a 120-square-meter house in just 48 hours, making the traditional construction site look like something from the last century.

Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt has ceased to be a climatic phenomenon and has become a biological system that feeds on itself, with 8,000 kilometers in length, 37 million tons of algae, and scientists confirm that it is now permanent.

A British company has installed in the middle of the ocean the world’s first floating platform that generates electricity 24 hours a day from the temperature difference between the surface and the depths of the Atlantic, without relying on wind or sun.

Brazil will harvest a record crop of up to 357 million tons of grains, but it does not have the capacity to store a large part of it. The storage deficit has reached the highest level in history and is equivalent to almost the entire production of Argentina.

Engineers had to pour concrete mixed with tons of ice throughout entire nights in the Dubai desert to erect the Burj Khalifa; any carelessness could clog the pipes half a mile high.

The James Webb telescope spotted a planet 700 light-years from Earth with mornings full of sand clouds and nights with clear skies, the temperature difference between the two hemispheres reaches an impressive 170 degrees.

Toyota embarrassed: car from the brand receives zero safety rating even with airbags and stability control; naturally aspirated 1.5 hatch with up to 105 hp had structure considered unstable and insufficient protection for head and chest.

Coal mine explodes in China with 247 workers underground, leaving 90 dead and mobilizing rescue in Shanxi

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Solar-powered plane crashes into the sea after facing bad weather: the Solar Impulse 2 became known for circumnavigating the world using only solar energy.

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

In a locked room of a R$ 220 million mansion in Brazil about to be demolished, a R$ 400,000 Brancusi sculpture has just been found.

Owner of the largest pig farm on the planet, the Chinese company Muyuan Foods sent executives to Mato Grosso to study pig production in Brazil, as a step by China to get closer to the source of feed and ensure food security, although the investment has not yet been confirmed.

Archaeologists discovered in Pompeii the remains of a man who faced the eruption of Vesuvius holding a bowl on his head as a shield, a lamp to light the way, and ten bronze coins to restart life, in a find that confirms the account written by Pliny the Younger almost 2,000 years ago.

At 16 years old and without money to buy equipment, a student from the Sertão of Paraíba built his first telescope with two margarine buckets and a wall mirror, and today he brings space observations to schools and squares in the region with increasingly powerful devices.