The minister who will lead the Piper Alpha commemorations said the pain of the disaster could be felt across an entire city.
The Rev Andrew Jolly said he had spoken to many people in Aberdeen directly affected by the disaster as he prepares to lead the 20th anniversary remembrance events on Sunday.
Mr Jolly, of the UK Oil and Gas Chaplaincy, will conduct a service of remembrance in Aberdeen’s Kirk of St Nicholas Uniting.
There will then be a further service at the city’s Hazlehead Park, where a memorial statue to the 167 who perished is based.
A simultaneous event will be held offshore on the Piper Bravo platform, when a wreath will be placed in the sea towards the spot where the Piper Alpha stood.
Mr Jolly said the ceremonies were necessary to provide families with the “reassurance that their loved ones are not forgotten”.
The minister, who joined the chaplaincy in 2006, said the whole city was brought together by the events of July 6, 1988.
He said: “The city, to a large extent, was very involved in the Piper Alpha tragedy, including police, ambulance and hospital staff, the social work department and numerous other agencies, as well as personnel at the harbour.
“There was a real sense, from what I understand from speaking to those who were directly involved, of pain and sadness in the city.
“People were shocked that a tragedy of this nature, and on this scale, could happen.”
Mr Jolly admitted it was “difficult to say” how many people would attend the events.
He said: “I’d imagine there will be two groups of people there that day.
“There will be those who, for their own personal and private reasons, want to be there, and there will be others from the industry, the trade unions, the church, RAF, police, fire and rescue service, hospital, who will hopefully come together.”
He said that whether people attend the services or not, they should take a moment on July 6 for quiet reflection.
He said: “We walk into our homes and flick a switch and the lights come on, we turn on the cooker and the gas bursts into life and we don’t consider a lot of the time just what it takes to bring those resources to our fingertips. It’s only sometimes when an accident happens that people maybe step back and consider just what is involved in having the energy that we need to light our homes, cook our meals, fuel our vehicles, and so perhaps it is appropriate to pause for a moment’s reflection.”
The UK Oil and Gas Chaplaincy was founded in the late 1980s and acts on behalf of all mainstream Christian churches to bring pastoral care to people in their workplaces and homes.
Meanwhile, a Piper Alpha survivor will tomorrow appeal for a new organisation – focused solely on safety offshore – to be created in memory of those whose lives were lost in the disaster 20 years ago.
Former diver Ed Punchard, author of the best-selling book Piper Alpha – A Survivor’s Story, will launch his proposal at a meeting in the Commons following a debate called by Aberdeen North Labour MP Frank Doran to mark the anniversary of the disaster.