A platform fire at the Gunashli oilfield killed 12 workers, left 18 missing, and disrupted roughly 60% of SOCAR's oil transport capacity.
Key Facts
- Workers on platform at incident
- 63
- Confirmed killed
- 12
- Missing (as of Dec 2017)
- 18
- Wells suspended
- 28 (24 oil, 4 gas)
- Pre-incident oil output
- 920 tonnes/day
- Pre-incident gas output
- 1.08 million cubic metres/day
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
A severe storm in the Caspian Sea damaged a high-pressure subsea gas pipeline at the Gunashli oilfield's western section, operated by SOCAR. The rupture ignited a fire that broke out in the northern part of platform No. 10 on 4 December 2015, a structure that had been in continuous service since 1984.
Fire engulfed platform No. 10, spreading to several oil and gas wells and causing a partial collapse of the structure. Of the 63 workers present, 33 were rescued and 9 hospitalized, while a lifeboat carrying 34 people fell into the sea and was damaged on platform piles, accounting for most of the missing.
All 28 wells connected to the platform were shut down and shore-connecting pipelines were closed, cutting off approximately 60% of SOCAR's oil transport. Azerbaijan declared 6 December a national day of mourning, and the Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal investigation into potential violations of fire safety regulations.