Shadow of terrorism looms over oil industry

IN THE darkness the men took their "seats" on the roof of the accommodation block of the Ninian oil platform, 90 miles north-east of Shetland.

The first hint of activity was the soft whut-whut of rotor blades, then suddenly a military helicopter, which had approached flying so low it almost skimmed the tops of the waves, rose up by the side of the platform. Ropes were tossed out and seconds later black-clad soldiers abseiled on to the landing deck, then charged down into the platform proper.

The spectators – oil workers who had slipped out unannounced – would later learn that the deployment was phase two in the battle against any terrorists potentially on the platform. Members of the Special Boat Service, the amphibious equivalent of the SAS, had already clambered up the platform's concrete leg and secured the control room where "bombs" were primed and ready to blow.

"It was spectacular to watch," said Jake Malloy, the general secretary of the offshore workers' union OILC, who in the early 1990s also worked on the Ninian platform.

Last week he was among the spectators for the big-budget real-life remake of North Sea Hijack, the ropey 1979 thriller in which Roger Moore played Rufus Excalibur Ffolkes, a freelance special forces soldier who vanquished the villain, Anthony Perkins, with little more than a bright orange wetsuit and a harpoon gun.

Malloy said of last week's incident: "They certainly didn't go easy on the 'terrorists'." First light revealed the platform to be ringed by Royal Naval vessels.

The incident last Sunday when a bomb scare led to the emergency evacuation of the Safe Scandinavia accommodation platform, which is connected to the Britannia oil platform, has shone a spotlight on to the issue of security in the North Sea.

A 23-year-old woman has since been charged with breach of the peace over the incident.

The news that 14 helicopters had been dispatched to evacuate rig workers, and the bomb squad put on alert, raised the question of what would happen in the event of a genuine terrorist attack on an offshore installation, part of an industry worth £32 billion last year.

The answer, it would seem, would come from the Faslane naval base, home of the Fleet Protection Group (whose other tasks include safeguarding nuclear weapons at the base), and Poole in Dorset, which is home to the Special Boat Service (SBS).

But the authorities are, understandably, reluctant to discuss the issue – a spokesman for the Royal Navy yesterday simply said: "We don't comment on such matters."

And Chris Allen, director of health and safety at industry body Oil & Gas UK, said only: "The safety of the offshore workforce must take top priority and therefore the industry has rigorous emergency response and security measures in place."

The reality is that for the past 35 years the Royal Marines and the SBS have repeatedly conducted training exercises and developed detailed plans in the event of terrorists taking control of an oil installation. The last "live-play" scenario in the North Sea took place in 2004.

During these exercises, which take place every few years and rotate round the oil companies, lasting between one and four days, all the principal government agencies are involved.

According to individuals closely involved in previous exercises, the exercises will first test the skills of trained hostage negotiators from Grampian Police, who will work in conjunction with "command cells" from CID, the Counter-Terrorism Branch and MI5, who will monitor all communications in the area.

The scenario often includes the presence of an armed terrorist group – played on occasion by the SAS – infiltrating the platform by boat. This is a more likely scenario, given the stringent security checks each helicopter passenger must pass before being allowed out to the rigs.

In such exercises, the Ministry of Defence will also put teams from the Force Protection Group in place. The FPG, a 600-strong unit whose principal task is protecting nuclear weapons, both in static sites and in transit, began life as Comacchio Company. It was named after one of the Royal Marines' most celebrated victories, at Lake Comacchio in Italy at the end of the Second World War.

In May 1980, Comacchio Company, then based at RM Condor in Arbroath, was given the task of protecting nuclear weapons as well as being responsible for counter-terrorism operations on ships and offshore installations. The SBS deployed a dedicated counter-terrorism team, 5SBS, to Arbroath on permanent stand-by. Today the unit in based in Faslane and Poole, where three groups – Black, Gold and Purple, all manned entirely by the SBS – are dedicated to maritime counter-terrorism.

When the first North Sea platforms came on stream in 1975, the British government feared a terrorist attack from one of the many groups active at the time in Europe and the Middle East, including Black September, Bader-Meinhof, Red Brigades, the PLO and the IRA. The Maritime Counter-Terrorist Force was set up in 1975 and the SBS – whose demarcation line from the SAS is the high-tide line – ran regular training operations.

Teams would be dropped at night from low-flying C130 cargo planes or helicopters together with Gemini inflatables. The Geminis would be secured to a temporary floating platform with their equipment and weapons inside. The team would then swim to the platform, collect their craft and gear, sink the platform and head for the oil rig. Techniques for releasing men from submarines were also pioneered.

According to SBS: The Inside Story of the Special Boat Service by John Parker, the problem was that there were only three submarines in the British navy fitted with five-man exit and re-entry chambers. If only one of these vessels was available, that meant just one five-man team could be dispatched to the hijacked rig. Then Captain Neil Johnstone devised a plan to fit air-bottles to the submarine's casing which would allow the release of up to 14 swimmers. It was deemed so successful in trials that he was awarded a bonus of £45.

In the history of the North Sea oil exploration and production there have been small acts of petty sabotage and, on one occasion, a pretend "bomb" made from glass vials and an alarm clock was attached to a pipe line as a prank – but one which required the presence of the bomb squad to carry out a controlled explosion. There has been no terrorist infiltration, nor does Jake Malloy believe there ever will be.

"I know they have to have plans in place, but I don't see why you would go to all the effort to take over an oil platform when you can do more damage at a refinery."

THE EXPERT'S INSIGHT

North Sea rigs 'safer than anywhere else'

Duncan Falconer security consultant and ex-SBS member

AN oil platform is tough to take for any terrorist.

If you've met any of the "bears" who work offshore, you wouldn't want to mess with them, but the British government was always paranoid about an assault and, as a result, we became the world experts in counter-terrorist plans.

The environment is so harsh and the sea so cold and changeable that it would have to be a dedicated team that considered such a plan. There are far softer spots in the world.

During my time in the SBS, we developed a number of techniques and plans for re-taking oil platforms. During exercises, submarines regularly dropped our teams off near the platform, a tricky feat of manoeuvring given all the pipelines in place. We would then clamber up the platform – you never use stairs or ladders which are prime places for sabotage – and then you confronted the team in control.

On one exercise, we came face to face with a team led by an SAS commander who hated the SBS. It was tough going but we still took them out.

Today I travel all over the world giving advice on security to oil companies and I consider the North Sea to be safer, in terms of plans in place, than anywhere else in the world.

• Duncan Falconer is the author of 'First Into Action – a Dramatic Personal Account of Life in the SBS', published by Sphere.

THE INSIDER'S VIEW

'This is not an exercise. This is not a drill'

An employee on Safe Scandinavia

WE have a muster drill each Sunday at 7:45am and, as I was on night-shift, I had just headed back to my cabin and was settling down to sleep when the loudspeaker went off again. It said: "This is not an exercise. This is not a drill."

I took my grab bag, which contains gloves, a torch and a survival suit, and headed back to my muster point. We all have cards that we swipe to prove we are there.

We then waited for further instructions. We were informed that there was some sort of device on board and they were carrying out a search, but that we would be evacuated according to our lifeboat number.

Everything was very calm, the communication was excellent and the team leaders in place. No-one panicked.

They then proceeded to evacuate the entire Safe Scandinavia. Each lifeboat muster point was called by its number and crossed over the bridges on to the Britannia oil platform. We then waited in groups, in different areas, some in the locker rooms, others in the canteen. It was then announced the Safe Scandinavia had been disconnected from the platform and had only emergency crew on board.

Then the choppers started to come and took 16 people off at a time. The first four flights went to the neighbouring Alba platform. When the emergency was stepped down, we were all given the rest of the day off.

KEYWORDS

Flotel

The Safe Scandinavia is a "flotel" – a floating accommodation block that allows workers to sleep a safe distance from where oil and gas production takes place. Built in 1984 at the Norwegian oil services company Aker Maritime, it has a maximum of 583 beds and 59 work stations.

SBS

Formed in 1941, the Special Boat Service is the special forces unit of the Royal Navy, whose motto is "By Strength And Guile". It forms part of the United Kingdom Special Forces group, alongside the Special Air Service. The SBS is an independent unit of the Royal Marines, based at Poole, Dorset.

Bombing

Off-shore slang for examining a pipeline for fractures using X-ray.



IN QUOTES

"The operation was being treated from the beginning as a probable hoax, but it had to be treated as genuine incident and we had to get assets to the area ready to work if they had to. It was a huge deployment. In addition to the RAF assets this operation would have cost anywhere from £500,000 to £1 million"

"The (evacuation] occurred following allegations by a worker on the Safe Scandinavia that there was a possible suspicious device on the flotel. A thorough search of the Safe Scandinavia has revealed nothing suspicious and it has now been deemed safe for workers to return. The 161 workers who had been earlier flown to the neighbouring Alba and Armada platforms are now returning to the Safe Scandinavia"