[Steely Tom]

Here's what can happen when things go really wrong out there.

[thackney]

This article starts with an example of why I dislike using Wikipedia for any information.

It accounted for around ten per cent of the oil and gas production from the North Sea at the time.

At the peak production of Piper Alpha, it produced 3.86 million tonnes per year of crude (77.2 MBPD)

http://163.164.19.97/information/bb_updates/appendices/fields/piper.htm

http://www.eppo.go.th/ref/UNIT-OIL.html

In 1988, when Piper burned, the North Sea produced 3,495 MBPD. Piper was producing 2%, not 10% of the North Sea. When the article starts out that way, everything else is not believeable.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/ipsr/t41d.xls