oil rig strip down

[Keith Tindell]

On BB4, 2230hrs is a program on the stripping down of the Lima platform. As a lot of seaman are/were engaged in these rigs will be of interest to me, as they were not around in my day. Maybe of interest for some, kt

[j.sabourn]

Trying to think where the Lima platform was in the North Sea Keith. It was all in the future when. I worked in the North Sea all those years ago about breaking them up when the wells dried up. I personally never worked on the rigs then, only in Australia and was usually as tow master when they were on the move. Most shore people talk about rigs as reference to all offshore installations. A rig is mobile and comes under the laws of shipping when not on station, and by Australian law has to have a marine crew in charge when on the move. Don't think this applied in the North Sea, if it did it was very lax. A platform was a permanent structure on the sea bed. Oil and gas rigs were of two main types floating and jack ups, the jack ups only floating between locations and dropping their legs when on site, so were therefore for more shallow water work. Deep sea people who worked in offshore shipping or other work had to learn a whole new dictionary of terms for different gear etc. this is a rough description for non seafarers.as don't want to tell granny's how to suck eggs. CHeers JWS. Ps Often thought some of these platforms would make ideal Prisons when their working life finished. Especially as the crime rate climbs. Also a rig is often referred to as a MODU...Mobile Offshore Dilling Unit. JS.

[Keith Tindell]

an interesting doccu on BBC4 tonight at 2100hrs. Its the effect on the bay of Nigg, which i had never heard of, the building of the riggs, and the high wages paid, 4 times than normal at that time to welders etc, and how it affected the surrounding villages. The pub in the village of Rigg sold more beer apparently than any other pub in UK. sounds interesting , kt

[Michael Black]

Keith, the fabrication yards paid well above any local rate, not just at Nigg but throughout the industry.
When I was rigging at Press Offshore on the Tyne in the early 90s they were throwing money at you.
Work overtime on a Friday afternoon they supplied sandwiches and pies,an extra £32 on top of your overtime. Same for a Monday. During the week you finished at 4 most worked till 6 if you worked from 6 to 8 you were paid what was called excess hours money.
Weekends were paid time and a half Sat morning, double time after 11.30 Sunday double time all day.
I was taking home £650 a week in 92.
People who had been there for years had villa's in Spain Turkey Portugal.
Regards Michael

[Bill Morrison]

an interesting doccu on BBC4 tonight at 2100hrs. Its the effect on the bay of Nigg, which i had never heard of, the building of the riggs, and the high wages paid, 4 times than normal at that time to welders etc, and how it affected the surrounding villages. The pub in the village of Rigg sold more beer apparently than any other pub in UK. sounds interesting , kt

Hi Keith. NIGG, there are two. Nigg in the Cromarty Firth opposite Invergordon which was one a large Royal Navy base. This is the one featured.

The Bay of Nigg is on the south side of Aberdeen and now the site of a new £330 million extension to Aberdeen Harbour. It was my childhood play ground and a popular place for Sunday picnics in days gone by.
Aberdeen Harbour - Scotland's premier energy port

Bill.

[Keith Tindell]

Thanks for that Bill, i have no knowledge of that area the country.I have recorded the program, but if you have not seen the program, may have special interest for yourself. kt

[j.sabourn]

#4 it was a well known fact among seafarers that any rig worker were among the best paid workers in the Industry , however that did not apply to the seagoing side of the Industry. Coming out to Australia however it was more inclined to lean in favour of the seafarers . This again was due to the power of the unions at that moment in time. The maritime unions covered the seafarers whereas as the General workers union the rig people . There were often gripes about the difference of salary’s between the two , of course coming from the rig workers. When I quoted wages in 1991 for a skipper, at that time a seaman was on just under $60,000 annually for 6 months work. This went up to over 60,000 a few months after my starting out here . I seem to remember the average wage ashore would have been abut $28000 -30000 at this time . It wasn’t only the wages but the conditions for seamen were that much better than the UK , however I do believe a lot of those conditions have been lost over the years and a seagoing life is not wot it was. It is usually one step forwards and two steps back with a lot of government lines of thought and the Unions are not People’s flavour of the month these days . The nurses at the moment are learning this the hard way. JS .

[Denis O'Shea]

John, the only people that were on big wages on the rigs platforms were the those directly employed by the oil companies, the rest of us were classed as contractors and in the case of us RO/s working for Marconi were still classed as seafarers because you could go on leave and they could ship you out if they needed to we did get a slight increase on deep sea wages but not the so called film star wages, and we still paid into the MNOPF. The biggest bonus was the 2 weeks on 2 off rota N.sea 1 month on one off West Africa Rgds Den

[Tony Taylor]

Hi Keith. NIGG, there are two. Nigg in the Cromarty Firth opposite Invergordon which was one a large Royal Navy base. This is the one featured.

The Bay of Nigg is on the south side of Aberdeen and now the site of a new £330 million extension to Aberdeen Harbour. It was my childhood play ground and a popular place for Sunday picnics in days gone by.
Aberdeen Harbour - Scotland's premier energy port

Bill.

In 67 we took two cargoes of gas oil (18000 tons each) to Invergordon, in those days it was a rickety wooden jetty which moved when we tied up. I was told it was a NATO fuel dump with huge storage tanks under the hills. Scroll forward to 99/2000 and I visited Nigg for some trials on the Elgin Franklin module under construction there, and also was involved in a project at Nigg Oil Terminal, Lots of change in Invergordon from what it was in 67.

[Bill Morrison]

#10 Tony, I went to Invergordon in 1998 to catch the QE 2 visiting. The jetty was in better condition with tight security, so had to view from a distance.

The underground fuel tanks you mentioned are something to behold. the original oil tanks, barring one which was bomb in WW2 still stand there for whatever reason!!
On Yesterday TV Ch. 27 programme Abandoned Engineering they covered the underground system, it is shown now and then if you can catch the times. I can't get the clip but this from the BBC gives you some idea of it. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla...lands-49728273

The QE 2 from a distance.
Bill