An oil giant has been fined more than £1 million over a safety failing which led to a gas blast on one of its North Sea platforms.
The case against Marathon Oil UK called at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday and the firm admitted fault over the high-pressure gas release on Brae Alpha on December 26 2015. It was fined £1,160,000.
The court heard an eight-inch diameter high pressure pipe in Module 14 of the platform suffered a catastrophic rupture as a result of “corrosion under insulation” (CUI), allowing more than two tonnes of high-pressure methane gas to be released almost instantaneously.
The force of the high-pressure blast caused significant and widespread damage. It happened while most of the 100 staff on the platform were gathered in the accommodation block, waiting for their Boxing Day meal.
An investigation by HSE found Marathon Oil had failed to undertake suitable and sufficient inspection of the pipework which would have allowed them to identify the risk.
Marathon pled guilty to breaching Regulation 4 (1) of the Offshore Installations (Prevention of Fire and Explosion, and Emergency Response) Regulations 1995 and Section 33(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Depute fiscal Richard Brown told the court: “Module 14 contained a sea water deluge fire protection system which was tested at three-year intervals. This is a sprinkler system that uses sea water to extinguish flames in the event of a fire. As a result of this system being tested, the module was exposed to sea water. The water entered the pipework’s insulation and the process of corrosion was allowed to begin.”
HSE served an Improvement Notice on Marathon after the incident relating to inspection work which was undertaken to identify any degradation issues and to rectify any identified issues.
Marathon’s solicitor said after new industry guidelines were introduced it left the firm with a “backlog” of inspection work to undertake.
Following the hearing, a spokesman for Marathon Oil said: “The company has fully co-operated with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and complied with the measures suggested in the improvement notice.
“The safety of our personnel is a top priority and we’ve taken action to resolve issues relating to this incident.”
Alistair Duncan, head of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Health and Safety Investigation Unit, said: “Hopefully this prosecution and the sentence will remind other employers that failure to fulfil their obligations can have potentially very serious consequences and that they will be held to account for their failings.”
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