An helicopter crashed yesterday in the North Sea coming from the BP Miller field. 16 people were on board and they probably all died although only 8 bodies were found immediately after the accident. The emotional impact of such a bad news is always immense in petroleum cities, that are organised around the oil and gas industry. Accidents are relatively rare, the level of safety awareness is so high including many safety trainings that it is almost a common belief that working and traveling offshore is 100% safe. When an accident happens, the consequences are often big.
I have already been on Miller and passed nearby several time when visiting other installations. Miller was often used for helicopters to refuel and to temporarily wait when an other installation nearby is foggy and landing is not immediately possible (although the pilots would tend to go back to shore or go the Shetlands instead).
The "survival training" is a three day training that has to be done prior to going offshore. It explains to extract from an helicopter that lands into the water and capsizes. Even the practice could be scary although it is in 25 deg swimming pool (far away from the 6 deg the north sea without the stress level associated with a real emergency landing). I have to admit sometimes some equipments are more difficult to use. I personally always struggled to use the re-breather, a device that helps to re-breath our own air in case of landing into water and always hoped that I never would need to use it. The training also teach who to behave in the water, i.e. how to be seen by the rescue team (basically forming a big circle by holding each other, females at the outside of the circle and men inside). This makes unfortunately believe that alive bodies in the water with such training should be seen quickly. It also makes believe that the additional 8 bodies will not be found alive.
When I heard about the news I run into my neighbours' house as I knew he was currently offshore...on the Miller. Fortunately his wife confirmed that he was not due to return until the week after so he was no part of that trip. However he knew everyone who was in the chopper at that time. The communication between the platform and the outside world was immediately cut to avoid the number of ever growing incoming phone calls in the afternoon. Only the OIM (Offshore Installation manager) could use the emergency line in the control room. The atmosphere onboard, as we can all imagine, was awful.
This is really a sad news, for the families and colleagues of those who are gone.
Miller is not producing anymore. It was the "perfect field". Longer than expected production plateau, rapid decline...investment paid back extremely quickly. 3 years ago the production was maintained at an extremely low level (almost to cover for the operating costs) because the DF1 project targeted Miller as a preferred host. This innovative project intended to capture and reinject CO2 into a mature North Sea reservoir to reduce atmospheric emissions and to provide enhanced oil recovery. When this project was killed, the decommissioning of Miller started. All people on board are now preparing this platform decommissioning.
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