30 years ago today the Ocean Ranger, a semisubmersible drilling rig, sank during a vicious winter storm while drilling an exploration well off the coast of Newfoundland, killing all 84 crew members onboard.
Considered the world’s largest and most advanced oil rig of her time, the Ocean Ranger disaster left the industry puzzled and prompted hard look into how a disaster of this proportion could happen. The investigations that followed revealed a load of problems from mechanical and design problems to poor training and inadequate lifesaving equipment.
Here is part 1 of a 6 part series that looks into the anatomy of the disaster that changed Canada’s offshore oil and gas industry forever. Watch Part II.
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