Adriatic IV Blowout and Platform Burning

Adriatic IV Blowout incident is one of the worst oilfield incidents happened in our industry. We need to learn and understand about it so we can prevent this incident to reoccur again in the future.

In the month of August 2004, Adriatic IV was placed near the Temsah gas production platform, off Port Said situated in Egypt (Mediterranean). The rig was busy drilling a natural gas well and there was a gas explosion which took place. It has been vindicated through reports that the blast was followed by a fire which later escalated to the Petrobel-run platform where it was raging persistently for about 7 days after which it was taken care of. About 150 personnel on the jack-up were saved and all the production and functions were stopped.

It was vindicated through studies and reports by Global Santa Fe that the Adriatic IV was completely submerged and could not be saved or restored. Joint owners of the platform were Italy’s ENI, BP & Egypt’s General Petroleum Corporation and the platform was completely in a dilapidated condition and hence the Egyptian Petroleum minister commanded to destroy it completely. In about 12 months following the catastrophe, the Temsah field and its production activities were restored in a full-fledged manner.

Always ensure that SIMOP’s are properly conducted.

Ref: Rigzone