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20 March, 2006
A potentially deadly offshore oil disaster was averted last week in the North Sea by quick action from platform firefighting teams. The incident occurred at Shell Exploration & Production’s 180-worker Tern Alpha platform, 105 miles northeast of Shetland Islands, and caused the evacuation of 128 workers.
The fire started in the early hours of 16 March when a high voltage electrical motor in the gas compression module overheated. Onboard emergency teams fought the fire for four hours, during which time coast guard helicopters from the UK and Norway, as well as a BP rescue team, ferried the 128 to other platform installations.
The fire, in an area of compressed gas, could have triggered a major disaster had it not been for the trained emergency teams. Shell Exploration operates Tern Alpha for Shell and Esso in the Hudson fields of the North Sea. The platform began production in 1989.