The Million Club
Membership of this exclusive association was limited to those who managed to make a mistake which cost at least NOK 1 million, he explains.
“I remember making one of those. I was working on the turbines as usual, and somebody else was giving me a hell of a time. So I responded by throwing a hard hat at him – but he sidestepped and I hit the unshielded emergency turbine stop instead.
“The other turbines failed to pick up the load, and one after the other went off line until so little electricity was being generated that the whole Ekofisk Complex shut down.
“We then strolled calmly and collectedly out of the turbine room and said nothing. The people round about were extremely puzzled over what had happened.”
Stensen relates another story from Eldfisk. “We were busy painting on that field when a series of shutdowns occurred. I located the cause – the painter was pulling out the shutdown buttons on the platform, painting behind them and put them back.
“All traces thereby vanished, because the plugs were in their right place. So the painter caused a series of stoppages without realising that they were his fault.”
Related by Asbjørn Stensen