Monday’s hearings will be broadcast on CSpan 2 beginning at 0900 ET. Admiral Allen will be the first witness and will address decision-making within the Unified Command. Given the number of high profile witnesses and the limited time allotted to each witness, in-depth questioning would seem to be unlikely. Will this be a day of short speeches?
Posts Tagged ‘accidents’
National Commission Hearings – 27 September
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, National Commission, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control on September 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Germany proposes deepwater drilling ban for NW Europe; how thoughtful!
Posted in accidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, Denmark, drilling, germany, Gulf of Mexico, Norway, offshore oil, ospar, safety, UK on September 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Oil-producing countries on Thursday rejected a German proposal for a moratorium on deep-water drilling in the Northeast Atlantic that reflected environmental concerns after the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
So Germany, which has essentially no offshore oil and gas production in its sliver of the North Sea, proposed a ban on deepwater drilling at an OSPAR meeting in Bergen, Norway? Does the word chutzpah come to mind? The equivalent might be a Norwegian proposal to ban the manufacturer of luxury cars at a meeting in Stuttgart!
The German proposal also called for making sure that offshore operations meet the highest safety standards and demanded an analysis of whether the circumstances that led to the Deepwater Horizon accident could also occur in the Northeast Atlantic.
Now there is some original thinking. No one has ever suggested that before! (sarcasm intended) Don’t you think Norway, the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, and other countries that actually produce oil and gas might be looking into these issues? I can assure you that they are, but that they are doing so quietly and professionally without the type of “grandstanding” demonstrated by Germany at the OSPAR meeting in Bergen.
Representatives from Germany and other nations with concerns about the safety of offshore oil and gas operations are encouraged to join us in Vancouver next month for serious discussions about the regulatory practices, technology, and management systems that minimize safety risks.
National Commission Agenda for 27-28 September
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged accidents, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, National Commission, offshore oil, oil spill on September 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »
The National Commission has a diverse lineup of “heavy hitters” slated for hearings on 27-28 September. CSpan doesn’t have their schedule posted yet for these dates, but I assume they will be broadcasting the hearings live.
Will we ever find out what happened to the Aban Pearl?
Posted in accidents, tagged aban pearl, accidents, sinking, venezuela on September 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Aban Pearl
The Aban Pearl sank off the coast of Venezuela in May. Shortly after the accident, Venezuela announced that a high-level commission would investigate. However, interested parties, inquiring through official diplomatic channels, have been unable to even confirm that the sinking is being investigated.
Until operators, contractors, and governments agree to conduct accident investigations and release reports in a timely manner, offshore safety objectives cannot be achieved.
Australia to Have Single Offshore Safety Regulator
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, Australia, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, Martin Ferguson, Montara, NOPSA, oil spill, safety, well control on September 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Montara Blowout, Timor Sea
I awoke to two very important developments from Australia as reported by Anthea Pitt with Upstream:
- According to Energy Minister Martin Ferguson, the Montara Inquiry Report will be publicly released by the end of the year. As BOE readers know, there are important similarities between the Montara and Macondo blowouts, most notably the production casing cementing issues that created a flow path via the shoe track on both wells and the evidence that both disasters would have been prevented if negative flow tests had been properly conducted and interpreted. Would Macondo have been prevented if BP and Transocean had followed the Montara hearings and made sure that all drilling personnel were aware of the causes of this 74-day blowout in the Timor Sea?
- Minister Ferguson also announced that the role of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (NOPSA) will be expanded:
By expanding Nopsa’s role, one central agency will look out for the safety of our offshore workers and the environment from exploration to decommissioning. That means it will be responsible for approvals and regulation of safety and environment, as well as integrity of facilities and day-to-day operations.
Bravo to Australia and Minister Ferguson! As I indicated in a submission to the Montara Commission and testimony before the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, a single agency must be responsible and accountable for the regulation of offshore oil and gas operations if safety and pollution prevention objectives are to be achieved.
Needed: An International Treaty on the Collection and Release of Offshore Accident Information
Posted in accidents, tagged accidents, international treaty on September 20, 2010| 1 Comment »
Why is action needed?
- Accidents happen for a reason; they are not mere matters of chance. By better understanding their causes, we can prevent their recurrence.
- International data on accidents at offshore oil and gas facilities are incomplete and inconsistent.
- Some governments release little or no information about accidents within their jurisdiction, and may not even confirm that investigations are being conducted.
- Some companies provide little or no information about their accidents.
- Prosecutions, legal actions, and domestic politics impede investigations and delay or prevent a complete understanding of how accidents happened.
What should be done? Governments should support an international treaty to improve data gathering and analyses and help prevent future disasters at offshore facilities. Here are some suggested provisions for such a treaty:
- Nations agree on accident reporting criteria, definitions, and information collection procedures.
- Nations agree to investigate any accidents within their jurisdiction that exceed specified casualty, pollution, or damage thresholds.
- Nations agree to release investigative reports within specified time frames.
- Nations agree to assist each other with investigations.
- Nations agree to delay prosecutions and enforcement actions until the official accident investigations are completed.
We have been talking about accident investigation and information shortcomings for decades. It is time to do something!
Relief well contributed to the autopsy and burial of Macondo, not the execution
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, relief well, safety, well control on September 19, 2010| 1 Comment »
Now that Admrial Allen has officially confirmed that the dead Macondo well is in fact dead, what is the legacy of the relief well?
- The relief well was Macondo’s opposite – a technological marvel that was flawlessly planned and precisely drilled without incident.
- The relief well verified new sensing and ranging tools for locating a well.
- The relief well contributed to the “burial” of Macondo by further cementing and pressure testing the annulus
- Perhaps most importantly, the relief well provided further confirmation that Macondo flowed inside the production casing and not in the annulus surrounding that casing. Was this an unstated BP objective in supporting the decision to complete the intercept operation? Remember that after the top kill cementing operation killed the well, BP requested that the Unified Command “consider foregoing the relief well.” This was an appropriate request since the annulus could have been secured through conventional plugging and abandonment practices. Whether or not BP changed positions on the intercept, the completion of that operation seems to have helped the BP legal defense. Misinterpreting negative pressure tests, missing signs of flow, and mis-routing that flow would seem to be more defensible than improperly designing the well, ignoring centralizer recommendations, and foregoing the cement bond log.
Jackup Accident Offshore China; 2 Workers Reported Missing
Posted in accidents, tagged accidents, China, jackup rig, offshore oil, Sharples, Sinopec, vancouver on September 18, 2010| Leave a Comment »
BOE received these pictures of a jackup rig failure offshore China. The rig may have been working at the well platform that is also pictured. Sinopec reported a drilling platform accident during a recent typhoon. Apparently, these are pictures of that accident. We assume that some combination of hull inundation, wind forces, and foundation failure caused the jackup to topple. Two workers were reported to be missing.
A lot of work has been done in recent years to address jackup failures during hurricanes, including this important study by Malcolm Sharples. If we have any readers in China, we encourage them to advise Sinopec about these reports. We also hope that representatives from China are able to join us at the International Regulators’ Offshore Safety Conference in Vancouver to discuss these and other important offshore safety issues.
Relief well intercepts Macondo
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, relief well, safety, well control on September 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Admiral Allen’s statement:
I have received extensive briefings over the last 24 hours regarding the final effort to intercept the Macondo well. Through a combination of sensors embedded in the drilling equipment and sophisticated instrumentation that is capable of sensing distance to the well casing, BP engineers and the federal science team have concluded that the Development Driller III relief well has intersected the Macondo well. This determination was made based on a loss of drilling fluids that indicated communication had been established beyond the relief well, the pressure exerted against the drill bit as it came in contact with the well casing and, finally, an increase in pressure in the choke line of the Macondo well blow out preventer. While each of these indicators taken separately would not necessarily be conclusive, the aggregate data available supports the conclusion that the two wells are joined. It is also important to note that none of the measurements supported a scenario where the annulus of the well is in communication with the reservoir. Accordingly, we intend to proceed with preparation to cement the annulus and complete the bottom kill of the well. Further information will be provided as cementing procedures are completed.
Observations:
- The relief well engineering team and crew performed exceptionally despite the many distractions and interruptions. Outstanding work.
- The new ranging and sensing equipment, combined with real-time measurement-while-drilling technology, made this complex operation seem routine.
- The above report seems to confirm that the annulus had been sealed with cement above the producing reservoir. This was accomplished either when the production casing was cemented prior to the blowout or during the top-kill operation, presumably the former.
- There was no report of oil in the mud returns or other evidence of of oil in the annulus surrounding the production casing. If no oil was encountered in the annulus, this would seem to confirm BP’s conclusion that the well flowed inside the production casing.
- Flow was stopped by the capping stack on July 15, and the Macondo well was killed when mud and cement were injected during the top-kill operation. Since the well was already dead, the cementing of the annulus that will follow is actually part of the plugging and abandonment operation. While the annulus could have been secured through more conventional plugging procedures, this does not detract from the relief well team’s extraordinary achievement.
Macondo: Different Country, Same Questions
Posted in accidents, tagged accidents, bly, bp, Commons, Gulf of Mexico, Jack Ryan, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, Tony Hayward, UK, well control on September 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »
If you haven’t heard BP executives answer the same questions (long string, centralizers, cement bond log, BOP failure, etc, etc) often enough during appearances before Congress, you can watch a UK House of Commons committee ask them to Tony Hayward and Mark Bly on cspan’s recording of yesterday’s hearing. This excellent legislative teamwork is further evidence of that special relationship between the US and UK.
I do wish that both government’s would show more interest in some of the lower profile incidents that also have major international significance. Perhaps they can coax Venezuela to release information about the Aban Pearl sinking. Even though I follow Hugo Chavez’s tweets :), I’ve learned nothing of significance about that accident.
In light of yesterday’s post about negative pressure testing, I was interested in this comment by Tony Hayward at the Common’s hearing:
We clearly have taken a lot of action to clarify and provided much greater rigor around the assessment of the negative pressure test.
Can BP tell us more?
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 