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Dismantling a Million Tons of North Sea Oil Rigs

127 points by tysone 9y ago

Tepix 9y ago
Can't some of these oil rigs be reused as artificial islands? Is the Seasteading institute looking into this already? They should be all over it.
- AnimalMuppet 9y ago
  A seasteader would have to pay more than the rig's value as scrap (less the cost of scrapping it). That might turn out to be quite a bit of money. Or, it might turn out to be zero. The article left it unclear whether they (the owners of the platforms) are making or losing money by doing this. But there are two other concerns that would have to be addressed: Plugging the oil well, and navigational hazards. Neither seems to me to be insurmountable. Plugging the hole and leaving the platform there is easier than plugging the hole and removing the platform. And the navigational hazard has been there for decades. Leaving it changes nothing; an existing risk merely continues.
  - Tepix 9y ago
    Sure, you'd have to pay for the scrap value. But it's never [1] going to be cheaper than that anyway. I'm not sure what environmental hazards the (former) oil rigs themselves are. -- [1] until we get self-assembling nanobots one day
    - fnordfnordfnord 9y ago
      If the platform weighs 100,000 ton and scrap iron is between $50 and $100/ton, then the rig's scrap value can't be more than $10,000,000, but it can be a lot less. Maybe it costs you a couple million dollars just to have it towed back, then maybe a couple million in labor and tools to cut it up, and a million in hazardous waste (asbestos) disposal, and so on. TBH, I don't know how much all of this really costs, but I can see where dismantling a rig could potentially cost quite a bit more than its scrap value, and thus the thing can have a negative value. In that case it might be quite attractive if the owner of the thing can transfer that responsibility to someone else. They might even pay you to take it.
  - briffle 9y ago
    Plugging the hole and leaving the structure would also mean maintaining the structure. I can't imagine the costs of maintaining something that large.
    - oh_sigh 9y ago
      Especially in the middle of the sea, which is not a very forgiving environment.
  - fnordfnordfnord 9y ago
    These are production platforms, not drilling platforms. A production platform like the one mentioned in the article gathers oil and gas from dozens of wells connected by a system of piping laid on the sea floor. As such, they'd have no way to plug a well. Operators use mobile rigs to do a "P&A" (Plug and Abandon). There's no way that the permitting authority would allow the well operator to abandon any wellhead without plugging it, no matter who they'd sold the production platform to.
  - gozur88 9y ago
    >A seasteader would have to pay more than the rig's value as scrap (less the cost of scrapping it). That might turn out to be quite a bit of money. I suspect that number is actually negative without the rig owner's input. Thus the bit about Shell "watching over" the process to make sure the breakers are dealing properly with chemicals and asbestos. On of the reasons the US Navy has taken to sinking decommissioned warships is the various hazardous materials make the cost of breaking them up more than the value of the materials. Rigs can't be that different.
- autokad 9y ago
  "The oil companies do not want a repeat of the mid-1990s. Back then, Shell’s plan to sink a piece of Brent equipment, called Brent Spar, in the ocean depths caused a bruising fight with environmental groups led by Greenpeace and prompted stricter regulation."
  - luhn 9y ago
    I don't see how that's relevant. Repurposing an old oil rig is a far cry from scuttling it.
    - theoh 9y ago
      Any arrangement of an afterlife for a rig became a liability...
    - cynicalbastard 9y ago
      it's relevant because the people who write the billion dollar checks don't want to bother with the risk.
  - mpweiher 9y ago
    The irony was that after all that, Greenpeace had to finally admit that the original plan of sinking the Brent Spar was actually the most environmentally friendly option. Turns out that bacteria at the bottom of the ocean love the sludge that's so toxic on land. So a big "yay" for PR and feelings over facts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_Spar#Deep_sea_disposal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_Spar#Deep_sea_disposal
    - kevhito 9y ago
      Can you provide a citation for your claims here. The link you provided doesn't seem to back up your claim at all. Actually, it seems to contradict your claim. Also, assuming what you say is true, was this known at the time? Because that would seem to make a big difference -- opposing dumping "sludge that's so toxic on land" into an environment where you don't know the effects seems to be more than "PR and feelings", but rather caution and prudence.
- dflock 9y ago
  I don't think that the cold, grim, gray & very rough North Sea would be anyone's first choice to start a Seasteading habitat.
  - Tepix 9y ago
    Some of the oil rigs get transported to southeast asia before they are dismantled. Check out the south Atlantic for a possible location, west of the Namibian coast. There are some shallow spots there like the Zubov Seamount, less than 50m deep and more than 200 miles from the coast.
    - chrisseaton 9y ago
      Living on an isolated platform off the Namibian coast sounds like a deliberate plan to get kidnapped by pirates.
      - fnordfnordfnord 9y ago
        You'd have to be producing something valuable, but then again, that's one of the economic models behind seasteading is production of high value goods which are forbidden to produce on land. ie: drugs, dangerous materials, etc.
        chrisseaton 9y ago
        Is the idea that you're in international water so you can do what you want? What stops a navy coming and confiscating your equipment then? They stop drug smugglers and pirates in international waters all the time. And you'll be static!
        fnordfnordfnord 9y ago
        >Is the idea that you're in international water so you can do what you want? Pretty much as I understand it, but I don't think they're under the illusion that they don't have to maintain some sort of relationship with land-based nations. >What stops a navy coming and confiscating your equipment then? Nothing? Some form of diplomacy? >They stop drug smugglers and pirates in international waters all the time. And you'll be static! They never stop them all. I don't think I will be static. I'll be on the beach.
- rolltack 9y ago
  I didn't know there was a seasteading institute. That's pretty neat. Getting stuck on one of these decrepit beasts in gnarly weather could be fun. I figure those guys would have more fun on a sailboat surfing through waves. Plus the mainland is always within reach and there are so many places to visit.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    > Plus the mainland is always within reach If you have a fleet of helicopters or suppliers. The North Sea can be pretty rough, there are times when the mainland might as well be on the moon.
- hristov 9y ago
  I don't think so. These rigs look massive and permanent, but in reality they are constantly deteriorating. Thus, they should not be compared to an island. Salt water is very bad for steel. And the ocean waves and winds constantly put stress on said steel. If they get left without being dismantled for a while, they will get into a very dangerous state where they are about to fall apart and it is too dangerous to even approach them. Then dismantling them will be much more expensive.
  - Ntrails 9y ago
    >If they get left without being dismantled for a while, they will get into a very dangerous state where they are about to fall apart and it is too dangerous to even approach them. Then dismantling them will be much more expensive. Once the Well itself is plugged, what are the realistic consequences of just letting the things rust into oblivion?
    - dx034 9y ago
      I guess they could crash, start floating around and hit ships.
    - mason240 9y ago
      The value of scrap metal is so high I'm guessing the recovery will pay for itself.
      - gideonparanoid 9y ago
        That depends on how environmentally friendly you want to be in reclaiming that steel [0]: > A secondhand vessel is currently worth about $190 per tonne to a shipbreaking yard in Turkey, a price established by the local market in reclaimed steel. Sail on to China and a different market, and the same metal is worth $210 per tonne. At breakers’ yards in Alang in India, Chittagong in Bangladesh and Gadani in Pakistan, they will pay around $280 per tonne. Meanwhile, at the EU-approved shipbreaking sites, which are bound to conform to continental waste laws, and where vessels are dismantled in closed-off quays or dry docks, rates are less competitive: European yards offer zero dollars per tonne, and, in fact, tend to ask a fee to take a shipowners’ junk. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/02/where-oil-rigs-go-to-die https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/02/where-oil-r...
pjc50 9y ago
See also (long) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14244227 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14244227
merraksh 9y ago
I was trying to find a pattern for the border between competence regions, and it's quite obvious that point (x,y) belongs to the nation closest to it, much as in a Voronoi diagram based on a continuum of points.
- shard 9y ago
  Seems a little more complicated than that. Germany's claim looks to have been reduced on both sides by the fields being operated by Netherlands and Denmark. I'm curious what kind of agreement was made between them such that Germany gave up the claims to the oil fields. In fact, it looks like Germany is not drilling for any oil at all. Maybe they just don't want to be in that line of business?
  - triggercut 9y ago
    Also of interest in the same vein: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_Sea#Political_issues https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_Sea#Political_issues
  - germanier 9y ago
    While it looks like Germany gave up some claims on first glance that is a bit misleading. That area is strangely shaped (coined Duck's Bill) to make Germany's area larger after a 1969 ICJ judgement[0]. They probably purposefully added areas without much oil leading to this shape. Germany produces about 3% of its oil demand in own fields (with two of them being in the North Sea, Mittelplate[1] is largest). [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea_Continental_Shelf_cases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea_Continental_Shelf_ca... [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelplate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelplate
  - dx034 9y ago
    Germany has plans to use nearly all of their sea for offshore wind farms[1] (the areas free of wind farms are either for shipping or natural habitats). Probably more valuable in the future than oil rigs . [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_the_offshore_wind_power_farms_in_the_German_Bight.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_the_offshore_wind_...
ryanmarsh 9y ago
> “We may well be at that critical point in history where people will say that this is the point where the oil industry reached its peak and began to decline.” No article about the industry is complete without a reference to "peak oil". Do people realize there's a much harder problem to solve than alternative sources of energy? Namely: How do we make all the other compounds essential to modern life which currently originate in an oil well? We won't be able to quit oil for a long fucking time.
- nerdponx 9y ago
  Wait, isn't "peak oil" about running out of oil reserves? Or am I getting my hyperbolic predictions confused?
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    It's about the halfway mark where half of all the fossil oil that will (presumably) ever be produced has been produced. The problem is that as the oil price goes up oil that was not economically viable in the past suddenly becomes viable and so peak oil will shift a little bit into the future. Eventually it will run out though, it is a finite resource after all.
    - chrisseaton 9y ago
      I don't think 'peak' implies half, just that it won't be any higher again. One side of a mountain peak can have a shorter approach than another can't it?
      - jacquesm 9y ago
        Right, you are correct.
    - Someone 9y ago
      Not necessarily the halfway mark. Peak oil is about the point where oil production (weird word for moving it from below ground to above ground, but part of it is refining) is largest. We would be fortunate if that ends up being near the half way mark, as that would likely mean that production wouldn't fall abruptly. Also: I hope we will never run out of oil. Ideally, alternative energy will get so cheap that it will become uneconomic to get out the last x%.
HillaryBriss 9y ago
On the Southern California coast, they've dismantled some old oil rigs too. But they were allowed to leave a certain amount of the infrastructure intact, about 70 feet or so below the surface, because there was so much marine life clinging to them. They became artificial reefs. In fact, there's enough interesting sea life there to support recreational diving trips to the sites. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/science/marine-life-thrives-in-unlikely-place-offshore-oil-rigs.html?mcubz=1 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/science/marine-life-thriv... http://www.scubadiving.com/travel/pacific-western/southern-californias-oil-rigs http://www.scubadiving.com/travel/pacific-western/southern-c...
- rmchugh 9y ago
  I've read that some environmental groups want to do something similar in the North Sea, seems like a good idea. Ocean fisheries need all the help they can get.
dboreham 9y ago
Interesting to read this because as a kid I watched these rigs rise into the sky as they were built then floated out. They're building wind turbines in that shipyard now.
- arethuza 9y ago
  I can remember watching one of the huge jackets for the Forties field being floated past the Moray coast in '74 or so. A lot of people from fishing communities end up working offshore - either on the rigs themselves or on support vessels.
- DrMonkFish 9y ago
  Harland and Wolff?
  - Loic 9y ago
    It could be Invergordon. I was there last summer and have seen quite some wind turbines ready to be dispatched for installation.
  - arethuza 9y ago
    Sounds like the old Highland Fabricators site at Nigg in Easter Ross, Scotland: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-36528196 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-3652...
  - dboreham 9y ago
    Methil, which built Brent A and at least three other large platforms. As others have noted there were several other yards involved at that time, such was the size of the North Sea fields development effort. Some historical info here : http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1976/mar/15/oil-production-platforms http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1976/mar/...
dpeck 9y ago
related, there are several old Navy towers off the coast of Georgia/South Carolina (USA) that were at one point going to be scrapped as well but with so much marine life around them last I heard they were transfered to the state gov't and just being left as is. They're quite a sight to see appearing on the horizon as you're moving towards one. http://www.thehulltruth.com/florida-georgia/384438-navy-towers-offshore-georiga.html http://www.thehulltruth.com/florida-georgia/384438-navy-towe...

127 points by tysone 9y ago

Can't some of these oil rigs be reused as artificial islands? Is the Seasteading institute looking into this already? They should be all over it.

AnimalMuppet 9y ago
A seasteader would have to pay more than the rig's value as scrap (less the cost of scrapping it). That might turn out to be quite a bit of money. Or, it might turn out to be zero. The article left it unclear whether they (the owners of the platforms) are making or losing money by doing this. But there are two other concerns that would have to be addressed: Plugging the oil well, and navigational hazards. Neither seems to me to be insurmountable. Plugging the hole and leaving the platform there is easier than plugging the hole and removing the platform. And the navigational hazard has been there for decades. Leaving it changes nothing; an existing risk merely continues.
- Tepix 9y ago
  Sure, you'd have to pay for the scrap value. But it's never [1] going to be cheaper than that anyway. I'm not sure what environmental hazards the (former) oil rigs themselves are. -- [1] until we get self-assembling nanobots one day
  - fnordfnordfnord 9y ago
    If the platform weighs 100,000 ton and scrap iron is between $50 and $100/ton, then the rig's scrap value can't be more than $10,000,000, but it can be a lot less. Maybe it costs you a couple million dollars just to have it towed back, then maybe a couple million in labor and tools to cut it up, and a million in hazardous waste (asbestos) disposal, and so on. TBH, I don't know how much all of this really costs, but I can see where dismantling a rig could potentially cost quite a bit more than its scrap value, and thus the thing can have a negative value. In that case it might be quite attractive if the owner of the thing can transfer that responsibility to someone else. They might even pay you to take it.
- briffle 9y ago
  Plugging the hole and leaving the structure would also mean maintaining the structure. I can't imagine the costs of maintaining something that large.
  - oh_sigh 9y ago
    Especially in the middle of the sea, which is not a very forgiving environment.
- fnordfnordfnord 9y ago
  These are production platforms, not drilling platforms. A production platform like the one mentioned in the article gathers oil and gas from dozens of wells connected by a system of piping laid on the sea floor. As such, they'd have no way to plug a well. Operators use mobile rigs to do a "P&A" (Plug and Abandon). There's no way that the permitting authority would allow the well operator to abandon any wellhead without plugging it, no matter who they'd sold the production platform to.
- gozur88 9y ago
  >A seasteader would have to pay more than the rig's value as scrap (less the cost of scrapping it). That might turn out to be quite a bit of money. I suspect that number is actually negative without the rig owner's input. Thus the bit about Shell "watching over" the process to make sure the breakers are dealing properly with chemicals and asbestos. On of the reasons the US Navy has taken to sinking decommissioned warships is the various hazardous materials make the cost of breaking them up more than the value of the materials. Rigs can't be that different.
autokad 9y ago
"The oil companies do not want a repeat of the mid-1990s. Back then, Shell’s plan to sink a piece of Brent equipment, called Brent Spar, in the ocean depths caused a bruising fight with environmental groups led by Greenpeace and prompted stricter regulation."
- luhn 9y ago
  I don't see how that's relevant. Repurposing an old oil rig is a far cry from scuttling it.
  - theoh 9y ago
    Any arrangement of an afterlife for a rig became a liability...
  - cynicalbastard 9y ago
    it's relevant because the people who write the billion dollar checks don't want to bother with the risk.
- mpweiher 9y ago
  The irony was that after all that, Greenpeace had to finally admit that the original plan of sinking the Brent Spar was actually the most environmentally friendly option. Turns out that bacteria at the bottom of the ocean love the sludge that's so toxic on land. So a big "yay" for PR and feelings over facts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_Spar#Deep_sea_disposal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_Spar#Deep_sea_disposal
  - kevhito 9y ago
    Can you provide a citation for your claims here. The link you provided doesn't seem to back up your claim at all. Actually, it seems to contradict your claim. Also, assuming what you say is true, was this known at the time? Because that would seem to make a big difference -- opposing dumping "sludge that's so toxic on land" into an environment where you don't know the effects seems to be more than "PR and feelings", but rather caution and prudence.
dflock 9y ago
I don't think that the cold, grim, gray & very rough North Sea would be anyone's first choice to start a Seasteading habitat.
- Tepix 9y ago
  Some of the oil rigs get transported to southeast asia before they are dismantled. Check out the south Atlantic for a possible location, west of the Namibian coast. There are some shallow spots there like the Zubov Seamount, less than 50m deep and more than 200 miles from the coast.
  - chrisseaton 9y ago
    Living on an isolated platform off the Namibian coast sounds like a deliberate plan to get kidnapped by pirates.
    - fnordfnordfnord 9y ago
      You'd have to be producing something valuable, but then again, that's one of the economic models behind seasteading is production of high value goods which are forbidden to produce on land. ie: drugs, dangerous materials, etc.
      - chrisseaton 9y ago
        Is the idea that you're in international water so you can do what you want? What stops a navy coming and confiscating your equipment then? They stop drug smugglers and pirates in international waters all the time. And you'll be static!
        fnordfnordfnord 9y ago
        >Is the idea that you're in international water so you can do what you want? Pretty much as I understand it, but I don't think they're under the illusion that they don't have to maintain some sort of relationship with land-based nations. >What stops a navy coming and confiscating your equipment then? Nothing? Some form of diplomacy? >They stop drug smugglers and pirates in international waters all the time. And you'll be static! They never stop them all. I don't think I will be static. I'll be on the beach.
rolltack 9y ago
I didn't know there was a seasteading institute. That's pretty neat. Getting stuck on one of these decrepit beasts in gnarly weather could be fun. I figure those guys would have more fun on a sailboat surfing through waves. Plus the mainland is always within reach and there are so many places to visit.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  > Plus the mainland is always within reach If you have a fleet of helicopters or suppliers. The North Sea can be pretty rough, there are times when the mainland might as well be on the moon.
hristov 9y ago
I don't think so. These rigs look massive and permanent, but in reality they are constantly deteriorating. Thus, they should not be compared to an island. Salt water is very bad for steel. And the ocean waves and winds constantly put stress on said steel. If they get left without being dismantled for a while, they will get into a very dangerous state where they are about to fall apart and it is too dangerous to even approach them. Then dismantling them will be much more expensive.
- Ntrails 9y ago
  >If they get left without being dismantled for a while, they will get into a very dangerous state where they are about to fall apart and it is too dangerous to even approach them. Then dismantling them will be much more expensive. Once the Well itself is plugged, what are the realistic consequences of just letting the things rust into oblivion?
  - dx034 9y ago
    I guess they could crash, start floating around and hit ships.
  - mason240 9y ago
    The value of scrap metal is so high I'm guessing the recovery will pay for itself.
    - gideonparanoid 9y ago
      That depends on how environmentally friendly you want to be in reclaiming that steel [0]: > A secondhand vessel is currently worth about $190 per tonne to a shipbreaking yard in Turkey, a price established by the local market in reclaimed steel. Sail on to China and a different market, and the same metal is worth $210 per tonne. At breakers’ yards in Alang in India, Chittagong in Bangladesh and Gadani in Pakistan, they will pay around $280 per tonne. Meanwhile, at the EU-approved shipbreaking sites, which are bound to conform to continental waste laws, and where vessels are dismantled in closed-off quays or dry docks, rates are less competitive: European yards offer zero dollars per tonne, and, in fact, tend to ask a fee to take a shipowners’ junk. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/02/where-oil-rigs-go-to-die https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/02/where-oil-r...

pjc50 9y ago

See also (long) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14244227 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14244227

merraksh 9y ago

I was trying to find a pattern for the border between competence regions, and it's quite obvious that point (x,y) belongs to the nation closest to it, much as in a Voronoi diagram based on a continuum of points.

shard 9y ago
Seems a little more complicated than that. Germany's claim looks to have been reduced on both sides by the fields being operated by Netherlands and Denmark. I'm curious what kind of agreement was made between them such that Germany gave up the claims to the oil fields. In fact, it looks like Germany is not drilling for any oil at all. Maybe they just don't want to be in that line of business?
- triggercut 9y ago
  Also of interest in the same vein: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_Sea#Political_issues https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_Sea#Political_issues
- germanier 9y ago
  While it looks like Germany gave up some claims on first glance that is a bit misleading. That area is strangely shaped (coined Duck's Bill) to make Germany's area larger after a 1969 ICJ judgement[0]. They probably purposefully added areas without much oil leading to this shape. Germany produces about 3% of its oil demand in own fields (with two of them being in the North Sea, Mittelplate[1] is largest). [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea_Continental_Shelf_cases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea_Continental_Shelf_ca... [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelplate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelplate
- dx034 9y ago
  Germany has plans to use nearly all of their sea for offshore wind farms[1] (the areas free of wind farms are either for shipping or natural habitats). Probably more valuable in the future than oil rigs . [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_the_offshore_wind_power_farms_in_the_German_Bight.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_the_offshore_wind_...

ryanmarsh 9y ago

> “We may well be at that critical point in history where people will say that this is the point where the oil industry reached its peak and began to decline.” No article about the industry is complete without a reference to "peak oil". Do people realize there's a much harder problem to solve than alternative sources of energy? Namely: How do we make all the other compounds essential to modern life which currently originate in an oil well? We won't be able to quit oil for a long fucking time.

nerdponx 9y ago
Wait, isn't "peak oil" about running out of oil reserves? Or am I getting my hyperbolic predictions confused?
- jacquesm 9y ago
  It's about the halfway mark where half of all the fossil oil that will (presumably) ever be produced has been produced. The problem is that as the oil price goes up oil that was not economically viable in the past suddenly becomes viable and so peak oil will shift a little bit into the future. Eventually it will run out though, it is a finite resource after all.
  - chrisseaton 9y ago
    I don't think 'peak' implies half, just that it won't be any higher again. One side of a mountain peak can have a shorter approach than another can't it?
    - jacquesm 9y ago
      Right, you are correct.
  - Someone 9y ago
    Not necessarily the halfway mark. Peak oil is about the point where oil production (weird word for moving it from below ground to above ground, but part of it is refining) is largest. We would be fortunate if that ends up being near the half way mark, as that would likely mean that production wouldn't fall abruptly. Also: I hope we will never run out of oil. Ideally, alternative energy will get so cheap that it will become uneconomic to get out the last x%.

HillaryBriss 9y ago

On the Southern California coast, they've dismantled some old oil rigs too. But they were allowed to leave a certain amount of the infrastructure intact, about 70 feet or so below the surface, because there was so much marine life clinging to them. They became artificial reefs. In fact, there's enough interesting sea life there to support recreational diving trips to the sites. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/science/marine-life-thrives-in-unlikely-place-offshore-oil-rigs.html?mcubz=1 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/science/marine-life-thriv... http://www.scubadiving.com/travel/pacific-western/southern-californias-oil-rigs http://www.scubadiving.com/travel/pacific-western/southern-c...

rmchugh 9y ago
I've read that some environmental groups want to do something similar in the North Sea, seems like a good idea. Ocean fisheries need all the help they can get.

dboreham 9y ago

Interesting to read this because as a kid I watched these rigs rise into the sky as they were built then floated out. They're building wind turbines in that shipyard now.

arethuza 9y ago
I can remember watching one of the huge jackets for the Forties field being floated past the Moray coast in '74 or so. A lot of people from fishing communities end up working offshore - either on the rigs themselves or on support vessels.
DrMonkFish 9y ago
Harland and Wolff?
- Loic 9y ago
  It could be Invergordon. I was there last summer and have seen quite some wind turbines ready to be dispatched for installation.
- arethuza 9y ago
  Sounds like the old Highland Fabricators site at Nigg in Easter Ross, Scotland: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-36528196 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-3652...
- dboreham 9y ago
  Methil, which built Brent A and at least three other large platforms. As others have noted there were several other yards involved at that time, such was the size of the North Sea fields development effort. Some historical info here : http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1976/mar/15/oil-production-platforms http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1976/mar/...

dpeck 9y ago

related, there are several old Navy towers off the coast of Georgia/South Carolina (USA) that were at one point going to be scrapped as well but with so much marine life around them last I heard they were transfered to the state gov't and just being left as is. They're quite a sight to see appearing on the horizon as you're moving towards one. http://www.thehulltruth.com/florida-georgia/384438-navy-towers-offshore-georiga.html http://www.thehulltruth.com/florida-georgia/384438-navy-towe...