Alexander L. Kielland (platform)
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (March 2011) |
Edda 2/7C and Alexander L. Kielland (right)
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History | |
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Name | Alexander L. Kielland |
Owner | A. Gowart-Olsen A/S |
Operator | Stavanger Drilling II |
Builder | Compagnie Francaise d’Entreprises Métalliques (CFEM), Dunkerque, France |
Launched | 5 June 1976 |
Fate | Capsized / sunk at 56°27′53″N 3°06′16″E / 56.464839°N 3.104464°E |
General characteristics | |
Length | 103 m (338 ft) |
Beam | 99 m (325 ft) |
Alexander L. Kielland was a Norwegian
History
The rig was built as a
Accident
Early in the evening of 27 March 1980, more than 200 men were off duty in the accommodation on Alexander L. Kielland. Conditions were rainy with dense fog, with the wind gusting to 40 knots (74 km/h) and waves up to 12 metres (39 ft) high. Kielland had just been winched away from the Edda production platform.
Minutes before 18:30, those on board felt a 'sharp crack' followed by 'some kind of trembling'. Suddenly Kielland heeled over 30° and then stabilised. Five of the six anchor cables had broken, the one remaining cable preventing the rig from capsizing. The list continued to increase and at 18:53, the remaining anchor cable snapped and the rig capsized.
130 men were in the mess hall and the cinema when the capsizing occurred. Kielland had seven 50-man lifeboats and twenty 20-man rafts. Four lifeboats were launched, but only one managed to release from the lowering cables. (A safety device did not allow release until the strain was removed from the cables). A fifth lifeboat came adrift and surfaced upside down; its occupants righted it and gathered nineteen men from the water. Two of Kielland's rafts were detached and three men were rescued from them. Two 12-man rafts were thrown from Edda and rescued thirteen survivors. Seven men were taken from the sea by supply boats and seven swam to Edda.
No one was rescued by the standby vessel Silver Pit, which took an hour to reach the scene. Of the 212 people aboard the rig, 123 had been killed, making it the worst disaster in Norwegian offshore history since the
Investigation
In March 1981, an investigative report concluded that Kielland collapsed due to a
Further, the investigation found considerable amounts of
Kielland was recovered in 1983 at the third attempt. The rig was scuttled later that year in the Nedstrand Fjord after a search for missing bodies had been completed, as well as several tests to determine the cause of the disaster.
Consequences
In response to the Kielland disaster, North Sea offshore installations tightened their command organization, identifying a clear authority who would order abandonment in case of emergency. The fourteen minutes between initial failure of the leg and the rig's eventual capsize left a window in which most of the personnel on board could have escaped, had a more effective command structure been in place. These revised command structures, similar to conventional shipping command structures, are now frequently put into use when vessels lose anchorage in storm conditions or when fixed installations are threatened by out-of-control vessels.
The failure to deploy lifeboats led to new legislation regarding on-load release hooks for lifeboats on oil rigs. As a consequence, the
A memorial to the disaster was erected in 1986 on the coast of Kvernevik. Named "Broken Chain" (Norwegian: brutt lenke), the memorial depicts a broken chain link. It weighs about five tonnes (5.5 tons) and stands four metres (13 ft) high.[7]
Similar incidents
Not long after Kielland capsized, her sister rig, Henrik Ibsen, suffered a jammed ballast valve, causing her to list twenty degrees, but was later righted again.
Fictional account
A fictionalised account of the disaster was first broadcast in Norway in 2018 in the drama series
References
- ^ "Who were the owners of the Kielland rig?". industriminne.no. Norwegian Petroleum Museum. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
- ISBN 0-7190-0973-1
- ^ "Alexander L. Kielland: Norway's worst offshore disaster". Safety4Sea. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
- ^ The Capsize of the accommodation platform "Alexander L. Kielland" in the North Sea 27 March 1980. Rescue Coordination Centre Southern Norway. 1980.
- ^ "MSC Circular 1327". www.seapart.com. International Maritime Organisation. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- ^ "Alexander Kielland Disaster". www.officerofthewatch.com. Officer of the watch. 29 April 2013.
- ^ Norwegian Petroleum Museum (21 June 2019). "Kielland memorial". Industrial Heritage Ekofisk. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
- ^ "57 evacuated from tilting oil rig". The Lakeland Ledger. Associated Press. 7 April 1980. p. 6A. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
- ^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27348595/fullcredits