Kielland – The battle

Rolf Arthur Reme was one of the 123 oil workers that never came home after the “Alexander L. Kielland” accommodation rig capsized in the North Sea in 1980. Through 40 years, his brother Odd Kristian Reme has fought to get answers to the many unanswered questions about the causes of the wreck, questions which still cast dark shadows onto Norway’s oil history.

This book tells the dramatic story of a man who became the spokesperson for the Kielland victims, and explores the struggle of the bereaved for a worthy treatment of the Kielland case. A struggle against powerful forces in the oil industry that made secret settlements in the aftermath of the wreck, a struggle that became political, and which reveals the secrecy and entanglements between big industry and the political elite. This is the first time reports and letters documenting this struggle are published, from the wreck in 1980 and up to early summer 2021, when the question of a new investigation will be heard in the Storting.

Kielland The Battle is an important contribution towards Norwegian labour, oil and industrial history. The book is a passionate document about the relentless pursuit of truth, and thus also a path towards peace and reconciliation after the darkest day in oil history.