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Posts Tagged ‘macondo’

Agenda

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This is a very good column that we are posting with the permission of Gary Gentile, Platts Oilgram.

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Top 10 Twitter trends for 2010:

1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. FIFA World Cup
3. Inception
4. Haiti Earthquake
5. Vuvuzela
6. Apple iPad
7. Google Android
8. Justin Bieber
9. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
10. Pulpo Paul

Pre-Macondo poll numbers I would like to have seen:

  • Percentage of adult Americans (outside of the Gulf Region) who knew there was offshore oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico.  Based on conversations I’ve had with people in the DC area, I’m guessing less than 50%. I know that sounds astounding, but that’s my guess.
  • Percentage of adult Americans who had heard of the Minerals Management Service (probably less than 2%) and knew that the MMS had regulatory responsibilities for offshore oil and gas operations (had to be less than 1%).

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Based on the chart above, I think we can now safely declare that the 2010 hurricane season is over. While the threat of tropical storms posed some problems for the Macondo response, the Gulf of Mexico was spared any significant damage or suspensions of production.

During the post-Macondo discussion about safety and regulatory issues, not much has been said about the major disruptions caused by Hurricanes Ivan, Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike, and the attention and resources that have been dedicated to hurricane issues for the past five years. Major advances have been made in mooring capabilities and assessments, design standards, securing topsides equipment, and other aspects of hurricane preparedness.

How much did hurricane issues affect the assessment and management of other operating risks? This question may merit further attention.

Mars TLP took a direct hit from Hurricane Katina with sustained winds >150 mph

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Transocean Ltd. (RIG, RIGN.VX) said Thursday that a Swiss administrative court ruled that the company cannot pay out about $1 billion to shareholders because of the numerous Deepwater Horizon-related lawsuits pending against the rig owner in the U.S. Wall Street Journal

The $40 billion question: How much will Macondo ultimately cost Transocean? Halliburton? Anadarko? Mitusi? Cameron?

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Helix Q4000

Helix’s system, a competitor to a project led by Exxon Mobil Corp that is still in the planning stages, is built from equipment that was used to siphon oil from the sea floor after BP Plc’s Macondo well ruptured on April 20. Reuters article

Interesting. We don’t know the details, but this would seem to be a cost-effective approach that could be quickly implemented.

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While the significance of these charts is debatable, the occurrence of two historic blowouts – Montara and Macondo – within an eight month period is a clear signal that we have problems. The disturbing similarities in these two blowouts tell us that well construction, monitoring, barrier verification, and personnel training practices are not where they should be.

Link to article

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Washington Post report:

Workers on the doomed Gulf of Mexico oil rig were distracted by multiple activities going on simultaneously and didn’t try to shut the well until 49 minutes after potentially explosive gas particles began flowing in, a BP vice president told a federal investigative panel Wednesday.

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Blowout: Is Canada Next?

Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 9 pm on CBC-TV

If the title and announcement for this CBC documentary are indicators, this won’t be a scholarly review of the risks associated with Canadian offshore exploration and development. Nonetheless, those of you who can view CBC programming may want to tune in and see what they have to say.

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As presented this morning:
  • Core mission: achieve excellence in system safety across offshore oil and gas industryIndependent auditing function
  • Cannot lobby – cannot be the American Petroleum Institute
  • Company CEOs and boards of directors provide leadership and ensure engagement of employees with it
  • Institute is empowered to use real rewards and sanctions to help all industry players overcome the enemies of safety –ignorance, arrogance, and complacency.

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