4 Dead, 49 Missing After (Russian) Arctic Oil Rig Sinks

4 Dead, 49 Missing After Arctic Oil Rig Sinks
18 December 2011
By Khristina Narizhnaya

At least four people died when the floating Kolskaya oil rig overturned and sank with 67 people on board in the stormy Sea of Okhotsk as it was being towed to shore, 200 kilometers off Sakhalin Island.

Fourteen people survived with minor injuries and 49 were reported missing late Sunday, the Transportation Ministry said. Four survivors were flown to the Nogliki Airport on Sakhalin Island.

The Kolskaya, owned by state-owned offshore drilling company Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka, was being transported to Sakhalin after testing the Pervoocherednaya deep-sea oil well.

The rig's captain sent an SOS signal early Sunday to evacuate people during a storm. But soon after, waves damaged the rig's pipes and knocked out cafeteria windows, inundating the rig with freezing water. It sank in 20 minutes at a depth of more than 1,000 meters, the Transportation Ministry said on its web site.

What kind of nonsense is this? FTA:

The weekend accident is an alarming development, foreshadowing more accidents in the Arctic, Dolgov said. In the Arctic, the environment is much harsher, with storms that last months, huge ice masses and much longer distances for rescues.

Really? if I stub my toe on a rock in my garden, does that mean that other people in m neighborhood will also stub their toes? what a silly statement.

BTW, my husband looked at the picture of the Jack Up rig with this thread and stated that a Jack Up should never be moved in a storm. But, is that really the rig? I read the story at the Moscow Times, and there was no picture with it.

That was a picture of the jack up rig being moved on a carrier ship.

When first lowered off the tranport ship, the base will set in the water like this.

Once put in place, the legs lower down, set on the ocean floor, and the rig base is jacked up above the water, as shown on the right in this picture.

These rigs move rather slowly. When being moved to another area, a transport ship, comes underneath it, then lifts it out of the water to be moved to another area.

The Kolskaya is only rated to operate in water up to 328 feet deep.

http://rigzone.com/data/rig_detail.asp?rig_id=521

You would be interested in a book just published on the loss of the diving bell on the “Wildrake” in 1979.

“Into the Lion’s Mouth” by Michael Smart.

That was a tragic North Sea accident that unnecessarily took the lives of two divers due to gross incompetence of the diving company owner.

In my opinion, it would never have happened on a Taylor Diving job.

.

Thanks for the book recommendation ...

We almost lost a diving bell on the 316 ... in about 350 feet of water ...

We were bringing it back-up to the surface (i.e. Saturation Diving Complex on deck) when the primary cable winch malfunctioned ...

The diving bell (with two divers inside) plummeted to the bottom ... taking along with it the (already partially stowed life-support and communications "umbilical cable" (an assortment of about a dozen helium-oxygen gas lines, hot water supply and return, communications, electrical power, etc)

Robert "Bob" Williamson and I were up in the "Sat House" stowing the umbilical cable as the diving bell was being hoisted to the surface ...

Suddenly, the lifting winch failed ... and all diving support hands were in a shocked an simple amazement ...

Suddenly ... Pat Fussell (a Texan Lead Diving Tender) ran back to the Sat House, where Bob Williamson and I were completed suprised by the events ...

Pat Fussell yelled down to us ... "SLACK THE UMBILICAL !!" and Bob and I kwen immediately what the risk was ... that the (partially) stowed-away umbilical cable would possibly ripp itself from the Sat House's steel walls, possibly sever (with 3,000 psi helium-oxygen diving gas and high-voltage power) whip-lashing the entire deck crew on it way down to the bottom of the North Sea ...

I've always seen Pat Fussell's "command presence" to have saved the day ... not only for the two divers ... but also saved many of us from death or crippling injury had the diving umbilical cable assembly broken loose on the deck ... with the closet hospital 4-6 hours away on the Scottish coast ...

Bob Williamson and I miraculously somehow unstowed the entire umbilical cable assembly from the steel wall rack, foot by heavy foot ... while Pat Fussell and the other deck crew watched it speed across the deck, over the stern diving station ...

The diving bell hit bottom ... and again ... miraculously the two divers were not injured ... most probably because the diving bell's entrance hatch had been sealed shut before the original ascent had started ...

Then began a three-hour back-breaking re-ascent to the surface ... with all twelve or so of the Taylor Diving deck crew (diving tenders as they were titled) ... hauling-up the diving bell and umbilical ...

What a day ...

I've never written of this event, even after 37 years ...

The Taylor Diving Superindent that day was Harold "Smitty" Smith, now passed on ...

If Pat Fussell or Bob Williamson ever read this post, please get in touch with me ....

"Charlie's Son" ...

.

Thanks!

But the article stated that this was a “floating platform” Ain’t no way that four 150 foot feet “open structures” can become a stable platform in deep and difficult seas!

My concern is that our EPA, others, will decree that artic drilling is off limits because of the inherent risks.

Risks, like these Russian A-Holes chose to ignore!

Cheers,
Roger Spence

But the article stated that this was a “floating platform” Ain’t no way that four 150 foot feet “open structures” can become a stable platform in deep and difficult seas!

During the towing operation to relocate, the legs are jacked up and the platform floats. That is when this storm hit and the rig sank.

During operations, drilling, work-over, etc, the legs are down, the platform jacked up and the feet solid on the ocean floor.

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