Odd Finnestad dug up this information on the Aban Pearl sinking.
Venezuela appointed a high level commission to investigate the causes of the sinking of Aban Pearl rig, which exploited gas offshore, according to executives of that program on Friday.
Archive for May, 2010
Venezuela Appoints Commission to Investigate Aban Pearl
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged aban pearl, accidents, venezuela on May 15, 2010| 1 Comment »
Aban Pearl
Posted in accidents, tagged aban pearl, accidents, offshore, venezuela on May 14, 2010| Leave a Comment »
There is nothing about the sinking on the Aban Offshore website, and very little new information elsewhere. The way the incident was announced – a tweet from Hugo Chavez – seems to be the big story to date.
Posted in Uncategorized on May 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Chutzpah Thursday:
- First Prize: Mexico may sue over the Macondo spill. I guess they forgot about Ixtoc I, the largest spill in history, and the damages to the Texas coastline. When can we expect a suit by Hugo Chavez? Ironically, while the US has repeatedly cited the environmental threat of Cuban drilling, the Cubans don’t seem to have made any public comments about the spill.
- Second Prize: May 1, 2010 quote (scientist speaking about the slick): “It will be on the East Coast of Florida in almost no time. I don’t think we can prevent that. It’s more of a question of when rather than if.” Has the scientist ever heard of weathering, evaporation, dispersion, and other natural processes that act on spills?
- Third Prize: During a Today Show interview, a former oil company executive disparaged a spill response option (dispersants) that was an integral part of his company’s response plans, made condescending comments about the expertise of regulators, wondered why a tanker-skimmer response option that he had “heard about” wasn’t being tried, and repeatedly mentioned blowout “protectors” (most people get a pass when they make this mistake, but not retired oil industry executives).
Rig Aban Pearl Sinks Offshore Venezuela
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, Bulford Dolphin, offshore, venezuela on May 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Aban Pearl
From BOE Europe Chief Odd Finnestad: All 95 workers are safe, says President Hugo Chávez. The rig was previously named named Bulford Dolphin and owned by Fred. Olsen (Norwegian rig owner) who sold it in 2007 when it was 30 years old. The rig started to take in water and capsized during the night. The workers were evacuated and two navy crafts are now patrolling the area.
Odd has done more research and has provided the following additional information:
The rig is currently owned by Aban Singapore Pte. Ltd. Aban Singapore (ASPL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aban Offshore Ltd, an Indian company. The rig’s previous names were Bulford Dolphin (Fred Olsen Energy) and Treasure Seeker (Wilh. Whilhelmsen). In 1975, Treasure Hunter, the first oil drilling rig was delivered to WW, followed by Treasure Seeker and Treasure Finder in the next two years. After a difficult start, the drilling rigs were secured on profitable long-term contracts with the oil companies, paving the way for the ordering, chartering and acquisition of still larger and more advanced rigs, culminating with Polar Pioneer from 1985 – one of the world’s most advanced rig for drilling in inhospitable waters. The WW offshore activities, however, were gradually phased out towards the end of the decade.
Important Macondo Documents
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, House Energy and Commerce, macondo, offshore oil, ohmsett, oil spill, safety, Senate Energy and Natural Resources, well control on May 12, 2010| 5 Comments »
I haven’t posted recently for a variety of reasons, but I see that folks are still visiting the blog. Thanks for checking-in. For those who are formulating their own views about what really happened and why, the documents at the House Energy and Commerce Committee site are mandatory reading.
Also, many thanks to those who have asked about my testimony before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. My statement is here. Kudos to Chairman Bingaman and the very capable committee staff for their thoughtful and professional approach to these hearings.
Too Irritated to Blog
Posted in Uncategorized on May 7, 2010| 1 Comment »
Here is why:
-I watched a news clip that was nothing more than a vicious, ill-informed attack on my former colleagues. The piece was totally unprofessional.
-I’ve read too much commentary from folks who already know what is wrong with the operator, drilling contractor, regulator, equipment manufacturers, spill responders, and everything else associated in any way with this tragic incident.
So I’m taking a self-imposed timeout while I calm down. I’ll be commenting publicly on Tuesday.
Macondo – 6 May Update
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, Macondome, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control on May 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »
"Macondome" Pollution Containment Chamber
Assuming well intervention efforts continue to be unsuccessful, the next big milestone will be the installation of the subsea containment dome and the floating production system that will support it. We should know a lot more in one to two weeks. Schematics of the subsea, riser, and surface arrangements would be useful for those of us watching at home.
Relief Wells
From the BP relief well schematic, it appears that both wells will have the same target, so the 2-well program is solely for the purpose of killing the well as soon as possible. No information has been provided as to whether the flow is thought to be originating at the production casing shoe or in the annulus surrounding the casing.
Subsea Dispersant Injection System
BP is reporting good results with the seafloor dispersant system.
With regard to the 38 reported sea turtle strandings:
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, turtles, well control on May 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Based on careful examination, NOAA scientists do not believe that these sea turtle strandings are related to the oil spill. NOAA and its partners have conducted 10 necropsies so far – none of ten turtles showed evidence of oil, externally or internally. ~Barbara Schroeder, NOAA national sea turtle coordinator.
From the Memoirs of Dr. Gene Shinn
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, Ixtoc, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, sombrere, well control on May 5, 2010| 2 Comments »
On June 3, 1979, a rig drilling off Mexico on a prospect called Ixtoc experienced a severe blowout. Oil was soon washing up on south Texas beaches. Brown and Root, the offshore drilling and supply company, improvised a device they called the sombrero. It was a funnel, or hat-shaped device, which was lowered over the runaway well. The floating oil would enter at the bottom and be funneled up the device to the surface where it was pumped into a floating tanker. The idea was good but apparently the design was not quite right. It did not capture all the oil.
Having heard about BP’s seafloor collection system, which Upstream has dubbed Macondome I :), long-time friend and leading marine scientist Gene Shinn sent me this excerpt from his memoirs. Gene talks about Dr. Jerry Milgram’s research in the wake of the Ixtoc blowout. Check it out here. Gene’s comment about Dr. Milgram’s mad genius is spot-on. Dr. Milgram was also a designer of America’s Cup boats. Hopefully the Mocondome designers contacted Jerry for his wisdom.
At first Gerry seemed to be a stereotype of the absent-minded egghead professor from a prestigious university. I really wondered if any of this would work. Boy was I surprised! That man could handle a welding torch one minute and operate a sophisticated spectrometer the next. At the same time, he was making complex calculations in his head. I was greatly impressed.
Macondo – 5 May Update
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control on May 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »
-The responders have successfully installed a valve on one of 3 leak points – the drill pipe protruding from the riser.
–Installation of the first pollution dome will begin today. This is really a production system and more information on the design will presumably be forthcoming.
Discoverer Enterprise
I assume there will be some type of pipeline riser connecting the dome to the Enterprise through the moon pool, that the rig’s tensioning system will be used to keep the riser taut, that the oil and gas will be processed on the enterprise, that the gas will be flared, and that the oil will be stored on the rig and offloaded to a shuttle tanker. In essence, the Enterprise will serve as a temporary FPSO.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 