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.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents | Tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, turtles, well control | Leave a Comment »
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.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents | Tagged blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, Ixtoc, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, sombrere, well control | 2 Comments »
-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.
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 »
The current level of interest in offshore safety issues is unprecedented, and because of time constraints and other obligations, I have not been able to respond to all of the calls and messages. Please accept my apologies. Bud
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No BOP, no pollution dome, relief well not recommended, and don’t mess with the responsible party! More great pics
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The tragic events on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico have attracted great international attention, and have also promoted a flood of questions to the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA).
The PSA Norway has issued a statement on the Horizon incident, and has appropriately avoided responding to the “can it happen here?” question. Their interest and support are greatly appreciated.
Posted in accidents, Norway, well control incidents | Tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, PSA | 4 Comments »
The Deepwater Driller III (pictured) has spudded the first relief well.
Discoverer Enterprise will support seafloor contaiment system.
While BOE’s eager but poorly managed staff struggles to keep pace, Upstream is providing excellent coverage of the well intervention, relief well, and seafloor containment system stories. This is the news of greatest interest to our small, but highly sophisticated readership. (For extensive coverage of news celebrities standing near the shore or bravely venturing into streamers of oil, turn your attention to the network news.)
Anyway, lots of new developments: the relief well was spudded, another rig is on the way to drill a second relief well, the seafloor containment system is ready to be transported to the site, and plans to install a second BOP stack (on top of the first) proceed. But perhaps of greatest interest to BOE readers is the report that BP had closed the rams but did not stem the flow. The BP spokesman suggested that the rubber portions of the rams may have been eroded and were thus unable to seal the well. This makes sense for the pipe rams and annular preventers (although some flow reduction would still be expected), but what about the shear ram? Was it closed? Was it unable to cut pipe that was inside the stack? What happened when the crew attempted to shut-in the well prior to evacuation? When can we expect a statement from Cameron, the BOP manufacturer?
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 »
This blowout is a national tragedy with 11 fatalities, 3 critical injuries, many lives disrupted, and a major ongoing oil spill. Nonetheless, as with every disaster, there are some positives. A few come to mind:
- 115 workers were rescued following the initial explosion.
- The first ever deepwater oil containment and collection system is being built. Should the responders not be able to soon stop flow from the well, this system will be deployed and evaluated.
- An innovative and unprecedented attempt may be made to install and operate a second BOP (above the failed stack).
- New spill cleanup options such as underwater dispersants are being studied. The resulting data will be very useful to oil spill researchers.
- Lessons from Macondo are likely to trigger improvements in BOP systems and well integrity assurance procedures.
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 »
Let me be clear: BP is responsible for the leak; BP will be paying the bill. President Obama
While this is clearly the case for “removal costs,” damage costs are a different matter. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 establishes liability limits as follows:
for an offshore facility except a deepwater port, the total of all removal costs plus $75,000,000;
With regard to maximum liability, a MODU like the Horizon would be treated the same as an offshore facility. Removal costs are “costs to prevent, minimize, or mitigate oil pollution,” not economic costs to affected parties.
The liability limits do not apply in the event of “(A) gross negligence or willful misconduct of, or (B) the violation of an applicable Federal safety, construction,or operating regulation by,the responsible party, an agent or employee of the responsible party, or a person acting pursuant to a contractual relationship with the responsible party.”
The legal battles have already begun and will last for at least a decade.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents | Tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, OPA 90, safety, well control | Leave a Comment »
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 »
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 