More Than 100 Resign North Sea Oil Rig Jobs

More than 100 contract workers refurbishing oil rigs in the North Sea resigned today over concerns about safety after the world’s worst oil rig disaster.

In Aberdeen, Scotland, rescue workers abandoned hope of finding 149 workers missing after an explosion blew apart Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s Piper Alpha platform Wednesday night.

Seventeen bodies and 64 survivors were pulled from the chilly waters after the blast. Police said at least two Americans were on the rig when it exploded.

The rig was still burning. Red Adair of Houston was brought in to try to stop it.

Occidental chairman Armand Hammer flew in from Los Angeles and landed at Aberdeen’s airport, where flags were at half-staff. He conferred with company heads in Aberdeen before visiting survivors in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

In the West Sole gas field, 100 to 150 workers employed by a contractor refurbishing three British Petroleum Co. platforms resigned over safety concerns in the North Sea in general, British Petroleum said.

A company spokesman said the workers issued a letter saying they had resigned “due to current offshore working conditions in general in the offshore industry.”

The workers are being brought ashore, he said.