Courtesy of BOE’s Cheryl Anderson and Gary Gentile of Platts Oilgram News:
Draft Administration comments on the National Commission’s legislative recommendations.
Michael Bromwich speech at Baker Institute, Rice University on 11 February.
House testimony of Commissioners Don Boesch and Terry Garcia on 11 February.
Posted in accidents | Tagged Bromwich, Don Boesch, FPSO, Gryphon Alpha, National Commission, Terry Garcia | Leave a Comment »
JL Daeschler, one of our astute commenters on offshore safety issues, is a subsea engineer with vast international experience. He holds patents for seabed drilling templates and subsea control systems, and has worked all over the world on offshore projects.
JL is also an accomplished artist who has exhibited in Paris, le Havre, Singapore, Houston, Edinburgh, and Calgary. He works mainly with acrylics, and his preferred subjects are boats, maritime scenes, harbors and the working environment associated with the sea.
Sometime he combines his interests. “Waiting on Weather” (below) was published in a book about North Sea oil development. Below that are an impressionistic offshore platform painting, an extraordinary coastal sunset scene that my wife really liked, and one of JL’s exciting America’s Cup paintings. Click on any of the paintings for enlarged images.
Mr. Daeschler was raised in France, has traveled the world, and currently lives on the coast of Scotland.
Waiting on Weather
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Posted in conferences | Tagged accidents, Baker Institute, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, Rice University, safety | Leave a Comment »
Magne Ognedal
It’s impossible to inspect quality into the petroleum industry. The latter must itself ensure quality. Magne Ognedal, Director General, Petroleum Safety Authority Norway
More thoughts from Magne:
Understanding risk is central here. We must all recognise first and foremost that the petroleum industry involves risk – just like any other activity.
However, accepting risk does not mean accepting accidents, he emphasises. “Quite the contrary. But we must constantly remind ourselves that accidents have happened – and can happen again.
“The risk of a major accident is present, in Norway and in all other nations with an oil and gas industry. This means that incidents will occur.
“Risk must accordingly be managed, with clear management responsibility, at every level and in every company which participates in the industry.”
Preventive measures can be a challenge, Mr Ognedal concedes, because they require that action is taken – often at a cost – without a disaster or other accident having occurred.
“However, history offers many examples where extensive measures are adopted after disasters. Companies in the petroleum business should consciously ask whether it would not be far better to have an established system which means that preventive measures based on learning, new technology and so forth are implemented, in order to be able to prevent accidents and disasters.
Safety – Status and Signals: This is a great publication – highly creative, easy to read and understand, very current, and loaded with good information. Check it out!
Posted in Norway, Offshore Energy - General | Tagged Norway, offshore oil, PSA, Safety - Status and Signals | 2 Comments »
Area map with helicopter track and impact position
BOE’s Cheryl Anderson has been tracking this story. Click here for the full TSB report.
On 12 March 2009 a Cougar Helicopters’ Sikorsky S-92A on a flight to the Hibernia oil production platform had a total loss of oil in the transmission’s main gear box. The flight crew descended to 800 feet and headed towards St. John’s. Approximately 35 nautical miles from St. John’s, during an attempted ditching, the helicopter struck the water in a high rate of descent. One passenger survived with serious injuries and the other seventeen occupants of the helicopter died of drowning.
Posted in accidents | Tagged Canada, crash, helicopters, Newfoundland, offshore oil, safety | Leave a Comment »
From the Australia Resources Minister’s Press Conference on 4 February in Canberra (click for the full transcript):
I might also say that I was in the United States last week and these issues were clearly top of mind in my discussions in Washington (l didn’t know he was here and have seen no US coverage of these meetings.)
I reinforced my previous commitment to work closely with the United States in terms of the consideration of the outstanding recommendations of the Macondo report and our determination to put in place a single national regulator in Australia
Discussions were also held with the companies and the US administration about an international conference we will hold in Western Australia in August of this year, focusing on the recommendations of the Macondo and Montara reports. That conference will be highly technical in nature.
It will in my opinion be a very important regulatory conference because it’s about basically having a look at where we are, what national and international responses can be coordinated, any specifications that might have to be changed so that we get a uniform approach to industry practice and the nature of equipment used. (Is the Minister unaware of the Vancouver conference and the ongoing work among regulators?)
(On the report about the Varanus Island explosion) Firstly I’d love to get my hands on it because I want to fully assess it. But I can’t get access to it at the moment because the WA government has determined it would be inappropriate to release it because it may impinge on potential legal proceedings.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents | Tagged accidents, blowouts, macondo, Montara, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control | Leave a Comment »
From today’s Platts Oilgram News:
Offshore drilling giant Transocean expects to release its internal investigative report next month on last year’s Macondo disaster in the Gulf of Mexico as the first of several milestones toward resolving liability issues, Transocean CEO Steven Newman said February 8.
The BOP section of TO’s report should be very interesting.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents | Tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control | Leave a Comment »
With its acquisition of Pride, Ensco is about to become the worlds second largest drilling contractor (behind only Transocean). Further consolidation and a drilling boom are being predicted by giddy reporters.
Good luck to Ensco and Pride. I hope the merger serves them well. My comments are not about them, but about the broader implications of oil and gas industry mergers.
New and expanding independent producers could fill the voids, but these companies tend to be less involved in industry-wide programs and projects. This needs to change and there are some encouraging signs.
There is a lot on the offshore industry’s plate right now including cooperative risk-management programs and a long list of standards projects. Hopefully, everyone will be able to maintain their focus on those needs, and the merger-mania will not be too much of a distraction.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Ensco. Pride, mergers, research, standards | Leave a Comment »
Posted in accidents | Tagged accidents, Baker Institute, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, Rice University, safety | Leave a Comment »
Liz Birnbaum, a former DOI and MMS official and Congressional staffer, has opened a consulting business in DC. Per her announcement:
I am pleased to announce that I have established a small consulting firm, providing support for environmental quality and natural resources conservation projects.
Best wishes to Liz in her new endeavor. For more information about her firm, visit the SEB Strategies website.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Liz Birnbaum, SEB Strategies | Leave a Comment »
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 