offshore oil | Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE)

Posts Tagged ‘offshore oil’

Militants continue attacks on Nigerian facilities

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged MEND, militants, Nigerian, offshore oil on November 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Nigerian Militants; picture from The Will

As reported in the Nigerian publication The Will and Upstream, the Nigerian militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claims to have detonated explosives at an offshore platform and taken seven workers hostage.
Per Upstream:

The ExxonMobil attack took place a week after a similar raid on a rig operated by the exploration company Afren in the same waters off the state of Akwa Ibom, in which two Americans, two Frenchmen, two Indonesians and a Canadian were kidnapped.

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Leading Oil Spill Expert Retires

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Cheryl Anderson, Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, offshore oil, oil spill, oil spill expert on November 16, 2010| 1 Comment »

Cheryl Anderson

Cheryl Anderson, the world’s leading authority on offshore oil spill occurrence rates and causes, has retired from the US Department of the Interior after an exceptional career. Cheryl developed and maintained comprehensive oil spill data bases, and authored numerous reports on spill risks and occurrence rates.

Because of her meticulous attention to detail and unbiased analyses, both supporters and opponents of offshore oil and gas operations trusted Cheryl’s data. Her reports have been widely referenced in energy policy documents, environmental reviews, and professional papers published in the US and around the world. Lease sale areas were revised and operating regulations were updated as a result of Cheryl’s statistics and analyses.

In recent years, Cheryl’s leadership in improving the accuracy and credibility of hurricane spill statistics was particularly noteworthy. She developed a process for gathering information on the amount of stored oil that could have been lost when platforms were toppled and pipeline segments were damaged. Previously, only spills that appeared on the water surface were included, which meant that total hurricane spillage volumes were significantly understated.

Cheryl worked for the Minerals Management Service since its inception in 1982. Given the sensitivity of oil spill statistics, there was a tendency on the part of some officials to want to “spin” Cheryl’s statistics. Cheryl had the highest professional standards, and firmly resisted such attempts. Her only concern was the accuracy of the data and the credibility of the reports. For this she was greatly respected by all of her MMS colleagues. She received numerous honors, most notably the Distinguished Service Award, the Department of the Interior’s highest honor award.

Cheryl was universally admired by her MMS colleagues and was a great friend to all. She warmed hearts with the charming trinkets that she would distribute on holidays and helped everyone stay healthy with the wonderful apples that she would bring to the office (in great quantities) from the orchards west of the metropolitan Washington DC area. BOE wishes Cheryl great success in her future endeavors. No matter what she chooses to do, we know she will do it with great integrity, commitment, and enthusiasm.

All the best to Cheryl!

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Per Hugo Chavez: Venezuela to begin drilling offshore Cuba soon

Posted in cuba, tagged cuba, drilling, Florida, offshore oil, Saimpem, venezuela on November 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »

As if drilling offshore Cuba wasn’t already controversial enough, add Hugo Chavez to the mix. Now this should be interesting:

Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA will “soon” being exploratory drilling in Cuban waters of the Gulf of Mexico, President Hugo Chávez said during a bilateral meeting in Havana earlier this week.

Scarabeo 9

It sounds like they may want to use Saipem’s new Scarabeo 9 which is scheduled to drill a well for Repsol early next year. The only sure thing is that they won’t be using the Aban Pearl.

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Montara Development to Proceed

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, Australia, blowouts, drilling, Montara, offshore oil, safety on November 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Montara Blowout - Timor Sea - 2009

A spokesman for PTTEP says the damaged rig will be towed away next month and a replacement will be in place by June next year subject to government approvals. ABC-Australia

Food for thought:

Should a major blowout automatically disqualify a company from further exploration and development within that field?
Should PTTEP have voluntarily agreed to (been required to) assign their Montara rights to another company?
Should leases or operating licenses be automatically suspended after such major accidents?
Shouldn’t exploration and development rights be contingent on safe and responsible operating practices?
Do PTTEP and other operators deserve a second chance under such circumstances? Third chance? How many?

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Deepwater Horizon BOP Inspection Begins Today

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, safety, well control on November 15, 2010| 2 Comments »

BOP stack awaiting post-Macondo inspection (from gCaptain.com)

Other than the mildly amusing skirmish about the positioning of representatives of the various factions during the inspection process (Hey, how about access for bloggers!) and some silly comments about the independence of the inspection contractor, there has been very little attention paid to the Deepwater Horizon BOP examination that is scheduled to begin today at NASA’s Michoud facility in New Orleans. The absence of media interest is surprising given the importance of this part of the Macondo investigation. Presumably, there will be more extensive coverage beginning today.

While the inspection and testing will be quite technical, some important aspects should be rather straightforward. What is the position of the rams, particularly the shear ram? What is the condition of the ram elements and annular preventer? Is there evidence of control line leakage? What can be determined about the electronics and the sequencing system designed to automatically actuate the shear ram when power is lost or when the riser is disconnected?

Hopefully, the official investigation website, which currently has no information on the BOP inspection program, will provide updates. While we don’t expect immediate information on the findings, there should be reports explaining how the inspection program is being conducted and what has been accomplished.

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HSE and Culture

Posted in Norway, tagged accidents, Norway, offshore oil, PSA, safety, safety culture on November 14, 2010| Leave a Comment »

This week I read two pioneering PSA publications: HSE and Culture and Thought Processes. In January 2002, Norway became the first offshore petroleum regulator to require that companies have a sound health, safety, and environmental culture. The purpose of the two publications was to help industry better understand the concept of HSE and Culture and the goals of the regulation. I recommend that you take a few moments and take a look at the publications.

Excerpt from HSE and Culture:

Organisations with a sound HSE culture are characterised by the ability to learn, and constantly question their own practice and patterns of interaction. Informed organisations accommodate dialogue and critical reflection on their own practices. People respect each other’s expertise and are willing to share and furtherdevelop their HSE knowledge.

Excerpt from Thought Processes

Vulnerability deals with the relationship between cause and effect. A vulnerable system can be completely disabled – permanently – by a single non-conformance or a series of errors. That sounds dramatic, and fairly unlikely. But it has happened:

• Alexander L Kielland flotel
• P-36 floating platform
• Piper Alpha platform
•Sleipner A GBS

And it can happen again. Because vulnerability begins in the brain. When things are going well, people easily become over-confident. Traditional constraints are challenged and established practices rejected. The consequences spread to the rest of the production system in the formof untried technology, complex solutions, faster execution times and narrower safety margins.

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Déjà vu

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, Australia, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, Montara, National Commission, offshore oil, safety, well control on November 9, 2010| 1 Comment »

With all of the discussion about the float collar issues, I thought I was listening to the Montara hearings this morning. I’m surprised that neither the Commission questioners nor the panelists have mentioned Montara. When you have two major blowouts within 8 months and they have very similar root causes, the similarities should be of enormous interest. The absence of information transfer that might have prevented Macondo should be a major consideration in these and other hearings.

We have been talking about the similarities between Montara and Macondo for months. Colin Leach’s 28 September post draws further attention to this issue. Colin also hit the nail on the head with his comment that an additional barrier should have been installed above the float collar before proceeding.

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Nice Work by the Commission attorneys and staff

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, National Commission, offshore oil, safety, well control on November 8, 2010| 1 Comment »

Hats off to the Commission attorneys and staff for today’s presentations and questioning. They were very well prepared, conducted themselves in a professional manner, and focused on the causes (not who should be blamed). The format was excellent with the Commission presenting their tentative findings and then asking the industry panel how they felt about each finding.

Oddly, the only real speculation was by the industry panelists, most notably the comments below about the flow path and BOP performance. Not very subtle!

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