Piper Alpha

Piper Alpha was a steel jacket and steel topside platform for the Piper Field originally operated by Occidental Oil, under the ownership of Armand Hammer.

It was built at Ardesier in 1976 and entered production shortly after. It had accomodation for over 200 crew.

The platform was subject to a series of accidents in years leading up to 6th July 1988 when a catastrophic explosion destroyed the installation and killed 167 men of the workforce aboard at the time.

The resulting controversy and reputational damage led to Occidental pulling out of the North Sea. It also led to the Cullen Enquiry and a root and branch examination and reform of the offshore safety regime, which had previously been governed by the Whitehall Department of Trade which was also responsible for maximising production of UK energy.