A long time ago, back in the early 1970s, when oil companies already had eerily predictions of climate change locked away from the public's eyes, the name 'Ekofisk' was well-known amongst school-age children. I well remember learning about it, all that time ago.
Ekofisk was then - and remains now - a large oilfield complex out in the very middle of the wild North Sea.
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| 'EKO' beacon, slap-bang centre in the North Sea. |
The site entered the public eye again in the 1980s because the sea floor subsided by some 6m due to the removal of oil that, through hydraulic pressure, kept the host rock in its form (water injection failed to remedy the problem). This meant the infrastructure had to be jacked up in order to extend the platform legs - a signifincant engineering scheme.
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| Ekofisk complex. |
It turns out that Ekofisk has its own NDB, which can be seen at most times of day but is visualised here in the early morning hours of 30/1/2024.
Today, Ekofisk represents something of the past, where oilfield development is no longer a matter of public celebration (and PR leaflets posted to schoolkids), but public revulsion. Even its NDB is now rapidly being replaced by satellite-based navigation, though many of us old-timers would say this idea is misguided.
