Laing Offshore Film “The Big Tow” Graythorpe I Oil Rig Bp North Sea Forties Oilfield 55444 (1974)

Synopsis

This film depicts the towing of Graythorpe I (later known as Forties Alpha) as it heads to be installed in the North Sea in the BP’s Forties oilfield. The Forties Oil Field is the largest oil field in the North Sea, 110 miles east of Aberdeen. It was discovered in 1970 and first produced oil in 1975 under ownership of British Petroleum, now called BP. The film shows aerial as well as panoramic views of the oil rig and interviews on site workers. The construction for this massive project began in June of 1974 (:21). The steely frame of Graythorpe I is seen nearly completed after 18 months, 2,500 men and 20,000 tons of steel (:38). In order to reach it’s destination it would have to be towed over 250 miles (:50) and once there, it would be lodged 250 feet into the sandstone under the North Sea (:54). Traditionally this area was composed of shipbuilders who were now working on this structure and one of the workers is interviewed about his experience here (1:15). The men worked up to 300 feet from the ground (1:48). Due to the size of the project, two specially designed revolving cranes were developed (1:52). Each of these stood 400 feet high and they were the largest cranes built thus far (2:07). The flotation raft is pointed to which would take the rig into the North Sea (2:22). The man responsible for the construction of the rig is interviewed about the project (2:36). After the Graythorpe I was floated out, they were to begin the construction of the next one (2:59) and hoped…

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Running time

9 minutes

Collection

Ephemeral Films

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• Stock Footage

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