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North Sea Oil. A History

North Sea Oil. A History (60 Years of Triumph and Tragedy) was published by the Amberley Press on 15th of July.

The cover photograph is of the Thistle Platform in the early 1980s. The ship backed up under the crane is the Stirling Sword, a ship which was far too small to be up there in those hostile waters. But this is not a book about ships, it is about the extraordinary process of exploration, development and production in recovery of hydrocarbons from under the choppy waters of the North Sea.

This is an important book. Much of the information is first hand because I, as the author, was out there braving the adverse weather and dealing directly with the rigs and structures involved. I, and my ship and my crew, helped support the construction of Forties, Brent, Ninian and Thistle. I was part of the investigation team for Chevron looking into the loss of the Bourbon Dolphin, and more. And people tell me that it is an exciting read.

Order it from Amberley today! Go to their site at - https://www.amberley-books.com/north-sea-oil.html

And to read the Daily Mirror feature click here: Daily Mirror 10 Sept

I try to vary the Picture of the Day, despite the fact that I have many more photos from Brazil than from anywhere else, except possibly the Tidal Basin in Aberdeen, but even so I could not resist this photo of the anchor-handler Skandi Rio a UT 722 owned by District Offshore and featuring all the stuff an anchor-handler out there is likely to be equipped with.