The Black Gold Rush began 50 years ago in 1975, launching the start of the North Sea oil drilling in earnest
It was October 1970 and signalled the start of the ‘North Sea scramble,’ as British Petroleum announced it had found “good oil by anybody’s standards” in the Forties Field, 110 miles north-east of Aberdeen.
When drilling started 50 years ago, in 1975, the ‘black gold rush’ began in earnest.
For years, we’d been hammered by extortionate prices for oil from the Middle East.
Now oil from the Forties Field – soon to be followed by other sites – promised energy security, a massive boost to our economy and much-needed jobs.
But extreme weather in these freezing waters made the work very dangerous indeed.
While salaries were higher than for commensurate jobs on the mainland, workers spent weeks away from home, living in cramped conditions, surrounded by one of the world ’s most challenging seas.
Marine journalist Victor Gibson is author of a new book – North Sea Oil: A History – 60 Years of Triumph and Tragedy – which starts six decades ago when the first oil industry survey ships were deployed to search for their prize.
He tells The Mirror : “It’s a world many of us take for granted because it’s out of sight. People know so little about it.
“But what happened in the North Sea is an extraordinarily epic tale and it’s as much about the people who worked out there as it is the engineering, the rigs and the platforms.”
A recent BBC documentary series, The Piper Alpha Disaster, introduced a new generation to the precarious nature of rig life – telling the story of the July 1988 tragedy, in which 167 men died on one of the North Sea’s flagship oil platforms 120 miles off Aberdeen.
And North Sea oil is back in the news again – with the Tories saying they will remove all net zero requirements on oil and gas companies drilling there if they are elected, and BP increasing its support for oil and gas by reducing its renewable energy investments.
For Victor, 82, who spent 20 years as a mariner – ten as a master of North Sea supply ships – the rigs became a second home..
Also writing shipmasters’ guides and safety cases – detailing how risks are identified, assessed, and controlled – in the wake of Piper Alpha, he says: “That’s why the strapline ‘triumphs and tragedies’ for my book is so appropriate; there have been a lot of both.”
Born in Sunderland, but now retired to Spain, he continues: “I think 1964 was the first time anybody went out with proposals to actually drill holes. There’s no doubt that when the industry started off there was absolutely nothing known about how to work in such a difficult environment.
“Over time, the most incredible developments took place. In the earliest days, former tankers with cranes capable of lifting about 300 tonnes took out parts of the platform. Then we went into deeper and deeper water, semi-submersibles were developed.
“By the time we get to this century, cranes were capable of lifting up to 20,000 tons. I tried various experiments to think how I could illustrate that – how many Range Rovers was that? How many elephants?
“It’s the same with supply ships and how we operated. Back in the early days, when you got to these offshores installations, we used to tie up to them – it was fraught with difficulty and danger.
“Now we’ve developed dynamic positioning, allowing the ship to maintain its own independent position. The evolution has been amazing.”
Victor describes the seafarers who worked the supply ships as “an extraordinarily stoic and resolute bunch”. “Their skills were different to those who were on the rigs but they all operated in the most unpleasant marine conditions,” he explains.
“The North Sea is seldom calm; in fact it can be very rough with 30 or 40 feet high waves. I’ve been on a ship which has had its bridge window broken by the force of water.”
Seasickness, he says, was always an issue, even with seasoned mariners who joined the offshore supply vessels. “Things move about all the time, leap up and down. Once, I was so sick, I drank water, so I had something to be sick with. We carried sea sick tablets so that we’d be able to dose up new arrivals,” he says.
“We weren’t concerned much for their health, but we didn’t want to be doing their work for them!”
Despite sometimes horrendous and unpredictable conditions, Victor was never frightened while at the helm. “There were times when I was concerned, but I was the captain and my primary function was to keep my crew safe,” he says.
“But they were really well built little ships – and as long as you could keep the door shut, you’d be alright.” Life on the rigs was different, but no less demanding, with some workers away for weeks at a time depending on which port they called home.
“It’s not a life that suits everybody. For instance, you don’t walk off the rig, get home and everything’s lovely, because it takes at least 24 hours to recover from having been working 12 hours a day. And then after day 12 or so, you’re getting ready to go away again,” he says.
“But people get used to it; wives and partners get used to having their own time and then look forward to when they’re together again.”
Victor recalls the oil rig community with fondness, as a close bunch. “There is a bond there; you’re relying on your workmates to help keep you safe. You don’t get that in an office,” he says. “I suspect if people had problems it was with the re-adjustment when they went home.”
Salaries for those working on the rigs were generally good. Jobs site Indeed records the average salary in 2025 for mid-level positions such as drillers as £60,000 a year and upwards.
“When I was seafaring in the North Sea, I was well paid and I think that probably applied generally – depending on your level of importance,” says Victor.
“The oil industry was keen to keep its staff, because it takes time for employees to become familiar with the environment, so you don’t want to lose people. Oil companies are portrayed as a sort of distant but vicious and horrible group of people. However, they’re just doing a job.”
Victor’s book details the long shadows cast by a series of North Sea disasters, including Piper Alpha, where a number of explosions triggered by a gas leak and a subsequent fire destroyed the platform. Only 61 people survived.
“It was so horrendous, the government at the time had to do something so they initiated a public inquiry, chaired by Lord Cullen, which produced 113 recommendations, all of which were accepted,” Victor explains. “The biggest one was that the responsibility for safety offshore in the UK sector would fall to the Health and Safety Executive.”
There was an immediate demand for safety cases, documents which reviewed the systems procedures and put control measures in place to safely manage major accident hazards. Victor, who already had knowledge in this field, was invited to write the report for the rig company.
But Piper Alpha was not the only North Sea tragedy to prompt change. In December 1965 the first British offshore drilling rig, Sea Gem, collapsed and sank in the North Sea while being moved to a new location, killing 13 workers and injuring five others.
The incident happened when the rig’s supporting legs buckled, causing it to capsize and plunge its crew and equipment into the freezing water. The disaster led to public inquiries and improvements in offshore safety.
“That was really the first time anyone took any notice of what was happening offshore,” says Victor, whose parents both served in the Royal Navy in the Second World War.. “The government at the time carried out an investigation and eventually implemented the Mineral Workings Act which resulted in the requirement for standby boats. That was a first step.”
Victor strongly supports further North Sea oil extraction and believes more licences should be granted. “They should just go ahead,” he says.
But despite his family’s seafaring history, he doesn’t miss the ocean. “I lived in Aberdeen for years and I had a view of a harbour,” he says. “When it was really calm and nice weather, I used to think, ‘oh, I’d quite like to be out there’.
“But it was really quite unpleasant most of the time, and although I got a lot out of it, I wouldn’t want to be there now. I’m quite happy in the middle of Spain!”
*North Sea Oil: A History – 60 Years of Triumph and Tragedy by Victor Gibson is published by Amberley priced £25.
