The Great Norwegian North Sea Oil Fairytale

The North Sea was only for fishing by the Norwegians, but when a then unknown American company "Philips Petroleum Co". asked the Norwegian government for permission to look for oil in the North Sea in 1962, nearly everybody in Norway thought it was a total waste of time.

Shortly after, two more big well-known oil companies, Shell and Esso showed their interest.

After eight years of searching, the first oilfield was found and this changed Norway’s history.

In 1963, a new proclamation stated that the State of Norway was the owner of any fields discovered in the Norwegian sector.The first Oil Company to start drilling off the coast of Norway was Esso. In 1966 “Ocean Traveler” was towed from New Orleans and started drilling on the 19th of July. In just under 3 months they drilled down to a depth of 3000 meter without finding any trace of oil or gas. Even so, tests taken on the way down showed geological sediment they were searching for.

The rest is more or less history. In June 1970 the news came out that they had found an enormous oil pocket in the North Sea. They had found an Elephant. This is the name given to an oil find where at least 500, million barrels can be produced.

In 1970 permission was granted to start a test production on the Ekofisk-field from the drilling rig “Gulftide”. Production started in the summer of 1971.

Fast installations at the Ekofisk field continued for several years and in 1973 there was nearly 1000 people working there.

In 1971 Phillips Petroleum decided to build an enormous tank made out of concrete for temporary storing of up to 1 million barrels of oil. On the top of the tank they built an extra deck for the all the production equipment. When it was finished it became the heart of the oil production on Ekofisk.

The "Alexander Kielland" - catastrophe On the 27th march 1980 at exactly 6-30 pm the hotel platform “Alexander Kielland" capsized. It was discovered much later that there was a crack in one of the gigantic legs and it just broke away from the rig. This catastrophe was to be the worst in Norway’s history. Altogether 123 workers perished.

The hours that followed after the capsize will live in my memory for ever. I remember we were enjoying an evening with friends when the first news came through. A pal of mine phoned me and told me to turn on the radio. From then on we followed the rescue of the survivors well into the night.

All through the night 19 choppers, 7 planes from Denmark, UK, Germany and Norway, as well as 9 naval vessels and over 71 fishing boats from all over the North Sea area, took part in the search for survivors and none-survivors. Even though the weather was really bad 89 souls were plucked up from the waves.

After this terrible accident there came more rigorous and new demands for the safety of the people working offshore.

I remember for example when we were flown out to the oilfields in the early 1980s, we travelled in jeans and tee-shirt and maybe a jacket. Now though there are tough courses you have to take to get an offshore safety license and everybody travels in a survival suit.

I worked on the Ekofisk tank until 1990, so if there is anything you would like to know about it or the Ekofisk field, let me know.

bob@my-beautiful-norway.com

This is the Ekofisk Song for the 30 year celebration

I worked on maintenance on the Ekofisk tank for Aker OffshoreThis is a take off after working 12 hrs a day for 14 daysWe are on the way home for three weeks ;-)

For those seeking employment offshore