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Posts Tagged ‘macondo’

While we were gone

Posted in accidents, cuba, drilling, energy, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The tragedy in Japan has added yet more uncertainty to nervous energy markets:
Japan will likely need more imported oil and natural gas due to closures of nuclear reactors caused by Friday’s earthquake and tsunami, but volumes can’t be calculated accurately as it is unclear how much industrial output has been affected by the disaster and how long power nuclear and thermal power plants will remain closed. Wall Street Journal
It’s much too early to gauge how the nuclear power industry, which some have touted as a model for safety achievement, will be affected.
    Standards news and discussion:
    Offshore Safety Institute?
    The CEOs of major oil and gascompanies will meet March 18 to decide how to proceed with the formation of a US offshore drilling safety institute, William Reilly, the co-chair of the National Oil Spill Commission, said March 8. Platts Oilgram News
    New twist in Cuban drilling drama – Petrobras relinquishes interest
    Marco Aurelio Garcia, foreign policy adviser to President Dilma Rousseff, told reporters in Havana exploratory work off Cuba’s northern coast had not shown good results and that Brazil wanted to concentrate on its own oil fields.
    Since BP’s disastrous Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico last April, the risks of offshore oil drilling have been a hot topic. One place it isn’t questioned much is Brazil, whose oil production industry is one of the fastest-growing in the world because of vast new deepwater oil reservoirs discovered in the past five years.
    Mexican Deepwater Update (Platts Oilgram News)
    Pemex has just begun to explore in Mexico’s Gulf of Mexico waters deeper than 1,000 feet, but 28 billion undiscovered barrels of oilequivalent are thought to exist in that area, some of which borders US territorial waters. Pemex officials said the company is forging a development plan for its first deepwater field, Lakach, located northeast of the state of Veracruz in about 3,200 feet of water. First production is expected in 2015.
    Environmentalists are furious at a proposal by the petroleum company Shell to start exploration drilling off one of Western Australia’s most treasured reefs. Ningaloo Reef off the north-west coast, has been nominated for World Heritage listing.

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“No spill response improvements since Valdez.” WRONG!

Posted in accidents, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Ohmsett

The seemingly endless crowing about the absence of improvements in spill response capabilities is a story by itself. This topic warrants a full discussion when time permits, but for now I’ll offer a few comments and observations:

  • The Macondo offshore spill response was unprecedented and impressive, and the lessons learned will be applied to improve spill response preparedness around the world.
  • Those who claim that there has been no progress in spill preparedness either have no real interest in spill response or have not been paying attention.
  • Even in the lean years following the Valdez oil spill research surge, the much-maligned MMS continued to conduct important burning, dispersant, remote sensing, and mechanical cleanup studies, while upgrading and expanding the use of the nation’s major oil spill response test facility – Ohmsett (pictured above).  This research was effectively applied during the Macondo spill and smaller, less publicized incidents. Click here for a nice summary of the program and here for the very extensive list of projects and links to the reports. Domestic and international partnerships, most notably with Norway and Canada, helped sustain this important research.
  • Despite periodic attempts to reprogram Ohmsett funding, MMS was able to continue to support this outstanding research facility.  Learn more about Ohmsett.
  • During the blowout, the networks featured the snake oil salesmen and hucksters who peddle super-sorbents and oil-consuming substances during every major spill.  That time should have been given to response experts and serious oil spill researchers.
  • Former industry executives with no real spill response experience trumpeted, without any documentation, claims of extraordinary recovery rates elsewhere (usually in places where no one gets to watch). Their favorite concept, supertanker response systems, received a lot of air time until the “Whale” tanker-skimmer flopped as predicted.
  • You would think that Kevin Costner’s very good separator (tested at Ohmsett in 1999!) was the only advance in response technology. Perhaps more movie and TV stars should get involved with spill response. Charlie (Oil) Sheen would no doubt attract interest to the cause. 🙂

NWS Earle Executive Officer Claudill, Kevin Costner, and Ohmsett Manager Bill Schmidt (1999 photo at Ohmsett)

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Interesting Platts Update on DWH BOP Testing

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 3, 2011| 2 Comments »

From Platts Oilgram News article by Gary Gentile:

The team examining the BOP in Louisiana conducted tests in January and February of this year that showed that with the proper amount of hydraulic fluid pressure, the rams on the BOP would close, according to Dan Tillema, an investigator with the US Chemical Safety Board.

Portions of drill pipe were found in the BOP and the pipe was cut, Tillema said—a sign that the rams did close at some point during the incident.

But Tillema cautions against making any assumptions based on the test results sofar. Some reports have suggested that rubber gaskets around the rams were worn awayby the massive flow of oil and gas gushing from the Macondo well, overcoming the BOP’s capacity. That is just one of several possibilities, Tillema said. “We haven’t made any conclusions yet,” he said.

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Noteworthy Macondo finding that has received little attention

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on March 3, 2011| 2 Comments »

In recent years various bodies have concluded that certain MMS offices and programs have violated ethical rules or guidelines. In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, some questioned whether ethical lapses played any role in causing the blowout. The Chief Counsel‘s team found no evidence of any such lapses.

National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, Chief Counsel’s Report, page 261

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New House OCS Drilling Legislation

Posted in drilling, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged , , , , , , on March 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Rep. Tim Murphy’s (R-Pa.) bill states that companies with drilling permits approved before early May 2010 can proceed with exploration or production “without further review” by the Interior Department, and “without further review or delay” under various environmental laws. The Hill.com

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Partial recovery of the Deepwater Horizon? BOP testing about to conclude?

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Transocean Ltd., the world’s largest offshore oil driller, may attempt to recover some or all of the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded and sank during last year’s Macondo well disaster. Bloomberg

U.S. Attorney Steve Overholt told District Judge Carl Barbier that testing of the failed blowout preventor (BOP) that led to the Deepwater Horizon oilrig explosion should be done by the end of this week. Louisiana Record

 

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Capping stacks and containment systems are important, but well integrity is critical

Posted in accidents, Uncategorized, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 28, 2011| 2 Comments »

Good Nola.com article on the well containment systems

Comments on well capping and containment:

  1. Capping and containment systems, while important and necessary, are for blowout response, not blowout prevention. Their use, successful or otherwise, would only occur after a series of unacceptable failures.
  2. Having two capping and containment consortia in the Gulf of Mexico (and none anywhere else in the world) does not seem to be very cost effective or efficient.
  3. What are the plans for subsea capping and containment systems elsewhere?
  4. A capping/containment capability would not have saved a single life on the Deepwater Horizon. Verified barriers must be in place to prevent flow from the well bore.
  5. The well responsible for our other major drilling blowout spill (Santa Barbara – 1969), was capped at the surface by closing the blind ram on the BOP shortly after flow began. However, capping doesn’t work if you don’t have a competent well bore. The well flowed through numerous channels back to the seafloor.
  6. Capping subsea wells is safer than capping surface wells.
  7. Capping the Montara blowout (2009) in only 80m of water was neither safe nor technically feasible because of the way the well was suspended. Despite the complete absence of a capping option at Montara, the capping of surface wells has received little attention.
  8. The more critical, but less publicized, post-Macondo initiatives pertain to well design, construction, and verification. In that regard, important new standards, including the Well Construction Interface Document, are scheduled to be completed soon. That work must not be delayed.
  9. While capping stacks and containment systems will only be used in the event of a series of major failures, design and construction procedures are critical every time a well is drilled. The importance of the initial design decisions continues into the production phase and beyond, even after the well has been plugged and abandoned.

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BOP Hearings in Early April?

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »

These hearings should be interesting:

The JIT expects to hold another set of public hearings the week of April 4 to focus specifically on the BOP and findings from the forensic examination. BOEMRE and the USCG expect to issue a joint release regarding the investigation by mid-April.

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Houston Chronicle on BOP Failure

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Giant metal shears successfully sliced and closed pipe full of runaway crude in the early moments of last April’s Deepwater Horizon disaster, but the oil blasted through rubber gaskets around the blades and unleashed the nation’s largest spill, according to sources familiar with an ongoing investigation. Houston Chronicle

That would be consistent with the video evidence recorded on the Q4000, but we still need a lot more information about the timing of the shear ram closure, the position of the ram and drill pipe before and after shearing, maintenance, and other important BOP issues.

Kudos to the Chronicle for their ongoing coverage of Macondo issues.

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Hurricane Damage, Decommissioning, and Macondo

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on February 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »

from Offshore

Mark Kaiser (LSU) has published a nice summary in Offshore Magazine of the damage to Gulf of Mexico facilities from recent hurricanes and the associated decommissioning challenges.

Comment: Hurricane issues were an enormous challenge for the offshore industry and regulators in the five years prior to Macondo. Did the focus on hurricane damage and repairs increase the risk of a drilling incident? Not directly, but hurricane issues were the primary concern of industry and governmental personnel during that period. Resources that might have addressed other identified needs (e.g. cementing standards) were necessarily involved with hurricane projects.

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