The bureau found that the self-propelled rig, known as the Safe Concordia, was badly designed and plagued by electrical problems.

It determined that the vessel breached its obligations by not allowing for safe fire fighting and by not notifying the Offshore and Petroleum Safety Authority of the problems.

Shortly before arriving at the Origin Energy-operated project in September 2005, one of the vessel’s four thrusters malfunctioned.

While the joint venture scrabbled to assess whether it was safe to operate with only three thrusters, a second one blew six days later.

The platform was to be part of the BassGas project in the Bass Strait, but the fire caused significant delays to the project.

The bureau recommended more stringent safety checks for America-built platforms to prevent similar fires in the future.

Before arriving at BassGas, the Safe Concordia had been used to accomodate workers during activities on the Bayu-Undan field in the Timor Sea.