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A Special Holiday Gift for the Offshore Energy Community

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged art, masterpiece, offshore drilling, Rig at Sunset on December 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Posted with the approval of the Rig at Sunset Foundation

As a holiday gift to our readers, BOE has obtained exclusive rights to post this picture of the masterpiece “Rig at Sunset,” the world’s most famous and artistically significant painting of an offshore drilling rig.

“Rig at Sunset” was painted 45 years ago by a US Geological Survey (USGS) employee who has chosen to remain anonymous. Initially, the masterpiece was presented to USGS (later MMS) engineers and scientists who had made important contributions to the offshore oil and gas program. Understandably, the intended recipients were so humbled by the magnificence of the painting that they could not accept it. As the painting grew in value and international prominence, framed copies were presented to retirees and the original painting was kept at an undisclosed location.

Great museums have an eye for artwork that is bold and unique, and curators soon lined up for an opportunity to exhibit “Rig at Sunset.” The masterpiece has now appeared at the world’s top art museums including the Louvre, the National Gallery, the Tate in London, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Norwegian Petroleum Museum in Stavanger, and the Jo Ann Rose Gallery at the Reston Community Center. While the permanent home of the painting is a well kept secret, it is rumored to be a maximum security facility in historic (and heavenly) Herndon, Virginia, the gateway to Dulles International Airport.

At a later date, BOE will explore the painting’s symbolism and artistic significance, but for now we just want you to appreciate its stunning beauty. Enjoy the holidays!

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Wave Power and Beauty

Posted in Uncategorized on December 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Clark Little photo, Hawaii

Check out this Hawaii news piece about Clark Little’s photography!

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Long Overdue: Failure Reporting System for BOPE

Posted in drilling, Uncategorized, tagged BOP, BOPE, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, failure reporting, macondo, Malcolm Sharples, offshore oil, safety, well control on November 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »

BOP stack awaiting post-Macondo inspection (from gCaptain.com)

In my 11 May 2010 testimony before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I made ten recommendations. While many of the issues raised in that testimony are being addressed, one of the more important recommendations (no. 4) has received little or no attention. This recommendation calls for a public or private system for collecting and assessing failure date for blowout prevention equipment. To the best of my knowledge, the only publicly available performance data for BOPE were collected by MMS and SINTEF and pertain to failures during BOP pressure testing, not failures during other operations. How can we have a credible safety system without comprehensive failure data for such critical well control equipment?

Dr. Malcolm Sharples, an important BOE contributor, identified a number of BOP performance issues since Macondo. Here are a few examples:

During routine tests on the device, the locking system of one of the rams jammed in a locked position. Sevan is working with Petrobras and the supplier, Cameron, to find a solution.
Reliance suspended all drilling work in the block after the Transocean rig Deepwater Expedition developed technical problems in its BOP. Reliance was drilling the KGV-D3-W1 well in the contract area since April 2010.
The rig was offshore Australia for Shell early last month when newly installed BOP components failed during operations. Following several unsuccessful attempts to rectify the problems in the field, the failing BOP component is currently undergoing repairs in Singapore.

How is this information not important to every operator, regulator, and drilling contractor? A comprehensive BOP failure reporting system should be a high and immediate priority for the offshore industry. The information should be verified and published so that all may learn and future performance improved. Requirements for providing such information should be included in contracts and, if necessary, regulations.

An other major void that I have been talking about for years, without much success, is the absence of a comprehensive and verified international incident reporting system. I assumed this would be universally recognized immediate necessity, and a critical element of the offshore industry’s initiatives agenda. Apparently that is not the case. More on this to follow.

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Heroes not Villains

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged bulldozer, mammoths, offshore workers, safety, safety culture, safety leadership training on November 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »

An artist's reconstruction of columbi sergiodlarosa -- a Columbian Mammoth.

Every day workers demonstrate that they want to do their jobs well, prevent accidents, and protect the environment. Only a few workers are “Not My Job Award” candidates. A bulldozer driver did the right thing in Colorado and the result is the fossil find of the century:

The idea to dig at Snowmass was sparked after a bulldozer driver stumbled upon what he believed to be the remains of a mammoth in the small town’s reservoir. The driver contacted the Denver Museum of Natural Science about his discovery, and the museum immediately sent up a team to investigate, uncovering a hidden trove of prehistoric remnants unlike any other.

While the mammoth fossils and the scientists are receiving most of the attention, the real star is the bulldozer driver.

Lately, we have heard a lot about offshore workers who made mistakes, and it’s important that we learn more about those mistakes so we can prevent their recurrence. However, workers have the most at stake and are the people who are most committed to accident prevention. We need to embrace this commitment by fostering a culture that allows workers to be safety leaders, not just implementers who follow directives from managers and regulators.

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Important “Rigs-to-Reefs” Study Completed by UCSB

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged offshore oil, offshore platforms, rigs-to-reefs, Santa Barbara Channel, UCSB on November 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Platform Gina - Santa Barbara Channel

The Marine Science Institute of the University of California Santa Barbara has completed a 6-year study to investigate the differences between the types of fish that live around offshore oil and gas production platforms off the coast of California and the species that inhabit natural reefs in the same geographic area. This research strengthens and confirms observations made in previous studies. Among the important conclusions (full study linked here):

There is very extensive diversity in the species assemblages around the oil and gas platforms of California. Factors driving this variability include A) location around the platform, B) geographic location of the platforms, and C) bottom depth of the platform.
Around each platform, there are three, unique, fish assemblages: midwaters, bottom, and shell mound. While a suite of rockfishes (of 43 species) dominate most platform assemblages, a number of other taxa (e.g., lingcod, combfishes, sculpins, and seaperches) are also important.
Midwater fish assemblages tend to be similar across platforms; there are substantial differences among those found at bottoms and shell mounds.
In general, the assemblages of platforms and natural sites are different. These differences are primarily based on differences in species’ densities rather than the presence or absence of taxa.
The role that habitat complexity plays in structuring platform fish assemblages should not be underestimated.

For a less scientific look at the reef effect and other uses of offshore platforms, see our Rigs-to-Reefs+++ page, a BOE exclusive! 🙂

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Militants continue attacks on Nigerian facilities

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged MEND, militants, Nigerian, offshore oil on November 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Nigerian Militants; picture from The Will

As reported in the Nigerian publication The Will and Upstream, the Nigerian militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claims to have detonated explosives at an offshore platform and taken seven workers hostage.
Per Upstream:

The ExxonMobil attack took place a week after a similar raid on a rig operated by the exploration company Afren in the same waters off the state of Akwa Ibom, in which two Americans, two Frenchmen, two Indonesians and a Canadian were kidnapped.

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Leading Oil Spill Expert Retires

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Cheryl Anderson, Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, offshore oil, oil spill, oil spill expert on November 16, 2010| 1 Comment »

Cheryl Anderson

Cheryl Anderson, the world’s leading authority on offshore oil spill occurrence rates and causes, has retired from the US Department of the Interior after an exceptional career. Cheryl developed and maintained comprehensive oil spill data bases, and authored numerous reports on spill risks and occurrence rates.

Because of her meticulous attention to detail and unbiased analyses, both supporters and opponents of offshore oil and gas operations trusted Cheryl’s data. Her reports have been widely referenced in energy policy documents, environmental reviews, and professional papers published in the US and around the world. Lease sale areas were revised and operating regulations were updated as a result of Cheryl’s statistics and analyses.

In recent years, Cheryl’s leadership in improving the accuracy and credibility of hurricane spill statistics was particularly noteworthy. She developed a process for gathering information on the amount of stored oil that could have been lost when platforms were toppled and pipeline segments were damaged. Previously, only spills that appeared on the water surface were included, which meant that total hurricane spillage volumes were significantly understated.

Cheryl worked for the Minerals Management Service since its inception in 1982. Given the sensitivity of oil spill statistics, there was a tendency on the part of some officials to want to “spin” Cheryl’s statistics. Cheryl had the highest professional standards, and firmly resisted such attempts. Her only concern was the accuracy of the data and the credibility of the reports. For this she was greatly respected by all of her MMS colleagues. She received numerous honors, most notably the Distinguished Service Award, the Department of the Interior’s highest honor award.

Cheryl was universally admired by her MMS colleagues and was a great friend to all. She warmed hearts with the charming trinkets that she would distribute on holidays and helped everyone stay healthy with the wonderful apples that she would bring to the office (in great quantities) from the orchards west of the metropolitan Washington DC area. BOE wishes Cheryl great success in her future endeavors. No matter what she chooses to do, we know she will do it with great integrity, commitment, and enthusiasm.

All the best to Cheryl!

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