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Posts Tagged ‘blowouts’

Relief Well Fever

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , on July 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »

DD3

BOE doesn’t really care about where LeBron James chooses to play basketball, but we are big fans of the team on the Development Driller III or DD3. The DD3 crew, some of whom are Deepwater Horizon survivors, is ahead of schedule and predictions for an early intercept and well kill are approaching irrational exuberance levels. This may be the most important well in history, and crew has responded to the challenge.

After the DD3 crew finishes the job, we owe them a victory parade in New Orleans.  “Throw me somethin’ mista! 🙂

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Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on June 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Interesting comments from Jane Cutler, CEO of Australia’s National Offshore Safety Petroleum Safety Authority, in NOPSA’s excellent newsletter:

The incidents in the Gulf of Mexico (Deepwater Horizon) and at the Montara wellhead platform are different in many respects, particularly in technical matters. However, they share some common factors prompting regulatory action.

I agree entirely with Ms. Cutler.  International regulators and operators must work in concert to address and resolve these issues.

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Updates on the relief wells

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on June 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »

BP has released a slide presentation and animation on the relief wells showing the intercept point below the 9 7/8″ casing shoe.   The exact sequence of operations once they reach the intercept point will be interesting to observe. They should encounter flow when they reach the 7″ casing annulus (assuming that is a flow path; there still seems to be some uncertainty in that regard).  Will they attempt to kill the flow in the annulus before milling into the 7″ casing?  Is there flow inside the 7″ casing via channels in the casing shoe? Is there drill pipe inside the casing?

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More Montara and Macondo

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , on June 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

-The duration of the Montara blowout was 75 Days. Ironically, Day 76 of the Macondo blowout will be the 4th of July.

-Eleven days have elapsed since the Montara Report was presented to Minister Ferguson, who has apparently retained his cabinet position in the new government.  Now that the cabinet has been settled, perhaps there will be more public clamor for the report?

-Cap Summit in DC? – According to Admiral Allen, government and industry experts will convene on Wednesday to decide whether to change the collection cap.  Other designs would provide a better seal and facilitate higher recovery rates via free-standing risers, but the well would flow unabated during the changeover.

-More Macondo irony:  Since the oil spilled is “avoidably lost,” royalties will presumably be due on both the oil spilled and the oil “produced” at Macondo.  However, for fields in water depths greater than 800m, the Deepwater Royalty Relief Act  of 1995 exempts the first 87.5 million barrels of oil equivalent from Federal royalties.  Court interpretations of this poorly written legislation have determined that this relief must be applied on a lease (not field) basis, making the royalty exemption much more generous.  Ironically, Kerr McGee (now part of Macondo partner Anadarko) filed the law suit that resulted in this favorable decision for industry.  MMS, which has been repeatedly (and incorrectly) denounced for being “too cozy with industry,” fought hard for the less generous interpretation.

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First Post-Macondo Well Control Legislation

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , on June 26, 2010| 1 Comment »

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has posted a discussion draft of the Blowout Prevention Act of 2010.   A hearing is scheduled for 30 June.

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Be very concerned about “sudden storms”

Posted in accidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Hurricane Juan - "Sudden Storm" killed 9 offshore workers in 1985

The offshore industry has an outstanding hurricane evacuation record, but the Macondo blowout adds a significant new dimension to the decision making process.  Disconnect the production risers and 35,000 to 60,000 bopd flow directly into the Gulf.  Suspend the relief wells and the final Macondo solution gets moved that much farther into the future.

There will be pressure to minimize the downtime and that would be a mistake.  Days, not hours, will be needed to prepare for the evacuations.  Decisions will have to be made well in advance of a storm’s arrival and will be based on less reliable long-term weather forecasts.  If a shutdown decision is made too soon, hundreds of thousands of additional barrels of oil pour into the Gulf.  If the decision is delayed, lives are threatened.

The most frightening scenarios are associated with “sudden storms” which can form in or near the Gulf and explode into hurricanes in hours, not days.  The rapid formation and development of these storms precludes an orderly shutdown and evacuation process, and poses a major safety threat to workers.  In 1985, nine offshore workers were killed when Hurricane Juan formed suddenly in the Gulf and personnel could not be safely evacuated.

Let’s hope that the well is brought under control before any hurricanes enter or form in the Gulf.  If not, decision makers need to exercise extreme caution and shutdown operations before lives are threatened.

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Interesting Comments from Admiral Allen

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on June 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I believe they’re going to try and intercept somewhere around between 16,700 and 17,000 feet. We will confirm that for you and put out a statement tomorrow.

Comment: I pasted that portion of the well cross-section above.  It looks like the plan is to drill into the 7″ x 9 7/8″ annulus (the most likely flow path) and secure that annulus.  Based on the float and casing shoe issues that have been reported, the flow could also be inside the 7″ production casing or both inside the casing and in the annulus. (Also, sealing the annulus could force flow through possible shoe channels inside the production casing).  They will presumably have to drill through the 7″ casing (after the annulus has been secured?) and set a cement plug inside the casing.

They decided not to use the blowout preventer because of the uncertainty regarding the status of the wellbore and what pressure might do going down. That’s the reason they abandoned the Top Kill and the capping exercise at that point.

Comment: Admiral Allen confirms reports that the second BOP option was dropped because of downhole issues.  Poor well integrity sure makes things difficult.  Concerns have been raised about the strength of the 16″ casing, and possible fracture paths outside casing.   If the ROV had been able to actuate the BOP and seal the well, would casing failure and formation fracturing have occurred; or are subsequent events (erosion?) the primary reason for these well integrity concerns?

Secretary Salazar and Secretary Chu had a meeting last week in Washington with other industry representatives beyond BP, other oil-producing companies that are out there, and we’ve actually identified a couple of platforms that are in the area that might be capable of taking the product coming out of the wellbore through pipelines and either producing it or putting it back down into the reservoir. We’re exploring that over the next couple of days.

Comment: Yikes!

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Unintended Consequences

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 22, 2010| 1 Comment »

OMNI-MAX Anchor

Pasted below is a note from Evan Zimmerman that I am posting with his approval.  As many of you know, MODU station-keeping has historically been a major problem during hurricanes.  For the past 5 years, industry and government leaders have worked hard to improve hurricane and deepwater mooring capabilities.  Evan has been a key participant in this effort.  His company developed advanced anchors (see above picture) and mooring lines, and new risk assessment tools for assessing mooring system failure probabilities and their consequences.   The Gulf of Mexico will not be a safer place if deepwater technology leaders like Delmar are forced to close or move their equipment and personnel overseas.

The moratorium on drilling has put more than 70% of all that risk reducing mooring equipment on its way to the beach without contracts.  For a company like Delmar that derives more than 95% of its income from deepwater OCS drilling activity, its clear that we will have to immediately start shipping equipment outside of the US to find work.  Its my expert opinion that without a doubt, the offshore station keeping safety options will be reduced once drilling activities resume.  Its also clear the longer the moratorium continues, the fewer moored rigs will be left to drill not only the intermediate water depth areas the DP rigs cannot, but also the ultra deepwater wells they have been so busy drilling safely.  The longer this moratorium continues, the higher the station keeping risks for both DP and moored rigs the MMS will have to approve to keep the few rigs left in the Gulf working.  It’s the single biggest disappointment in my career to see all the hard work that MMS, Delmar and industry have done to increase station keeping safety quickly slip between our fingers here domestically.  I leave overseas again week after next to try to secure work for half (two sets) of OMNI-Max anchors as well as most of our other risk reducing equipment that now is no longer on contract due to the moratorium.

We are the last US owned deepwater anchor handling company that has brought the safest and most technically advantageous equipment to the mooring industry, and it looks like we will have to drastically change inclusive of cutting jobs domestically and moving outside of the US.

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Who Benefits from Macondo?

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on June 22, 2010| 1 Comment »

We know about the Macondo victims, most notably the 11 men who died and their families, but who stand to benefit from the blowout?

  1. OPEC – Will OPEC’s market share grow as the US and others prevent or delay production?
  2. West Africa and Brazil – Better rates and availability for deepwater rigs?
  3. PTTEP (Montara) – Not receiving much attention as BP draws all the flack
  4. Shale gas – Can the huge promise be realized?  Will natural gas gain an increased share of the transportation market?
  5. Alternative Energy – Are these industries ready to step up?
  6. Spill response research – Government and industry oil spill research funding always jumps after major spills.
  7. Nuclear industry – Perhaps, but Macondo may remind people that “the unthinkable” can happen.
  8. Lawyers – The only sure winners.  The litigation spectacular has already begun.

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Macondo and Montara Shorts

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on June 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

No Love for Long Strings – The rest of the industry has distanced itself from BP’s casing program, swearing their allegiance to tiebacks.

CEO sails while “small people” suffer – The PR disaster continues for BP.

BP partner seeks annulment – The first shots in the multi-billion dollar BP-Anadarko dispute have been fired.  Look for new liability clauses in operating agreements and regulations.

Who is in charge and accountable? – Macondo, like Montara, was entirely preventable.  Know who is in charge, and make sure they are competent and cautious leaders.  As a friend told me yesterday, the best technology can be undone by human arrogance.

Just ‘Roo It! – Australia’s investigation process works great until it comes to releasing reports.  Varanus Island deja vu?

Storm watch – Another common concern for Montara and Macondo – the onset of hurricane/cyclone season.  We need about six more weeks (preferably more) until the first hurricane evacuations in the Gulf.

Sad irony – The first FPSO production in the Gulf of Mexico is at the Macondo field.

90+% recovery – Promised soon with new well cap and production systems.

Relief? – First relief well is ahead of schedule.  Has a well ever been more anticipated and needed?

Aftermath – While the chance of BP operating Macondo is virtually zero, will PTTEP be allowed to continue operating Montara?

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