“The Deepwater Horizon BOP was unreasonably dangerous, and has caused and continues to cause harm, loss, injuries, and damages to BP (and others) stemming from the blowout of Macondo well, the resulting explosion and fire onboard the Deepwater Horizon, the efforts to regain control of the Macondo well, and the oil spill that ensued before control of the Macondo well could be regained,” BP said in the suit.
Posts Tagged ‘offshore oil’
BP vs. Cameron
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, BOP, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control on April 20, 2011| 6 Comments »
CNN: growing support for offshore drilling
Posted in drilling, offshore, Offshore Energy - General, tagged CNN poll, drilling, offshore drilling, offshore oil on April 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »
A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday indicates that 69 percent of Americans favor increased offshore drilling, with just over three in ten opposed. That 69 percent is up 20 points from last June, while the oil spill was still in progress, and is back to the level of support seen in the summer of 2008.
Confidence in government has shown a less significant increase.
Absent a sustained oil spill…..
Posted in accidents, tagged Flotel, Jupiter, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, Pemex, safety, sinking on April 19, 2011| 2 Comments »
Jupiter Flotel
….interest in offshore accidents quickly diminishes. The Pemex Jupiter semisubmersible quarters facility sank last week with 713 workers aboard (fortunately all were safely evacuated). This stunning near-disaster received minimal coverage. Follow-up reports are non-existent. As our friend JL Daeschler asked, how does a flotel capsize in calm conditions and shallow water? What went wrong and why? Let’s hope that a comprehensive investigation is conducted and that the findings are shared worldwide (unlike Venezuela’s handling of the Aban Pearl sinking).
As we have noted before, Macondo would have disappeared from the news within a week if the deadly fire and explosion had not been followed by a sustained oil spill. The only investigation would have been by Coast Guard and the Minerals Management Service (which would likely still exist). There would have been no National Commission, National Academy, Chemical Safety Board, or congressional investigations, and prosecution by the Justice Department would have been unlikely.
In the US, offshore spills are media events; other accidents are not. How much attention did the horrific fire and explosion that killed seven workers on the South Pass 60 B Platform receive in 1989? Virtually none. How about the lives lost in helicopter crashes? While the crash that killed 17 off Newfoundland in 2009 has been well studied and reported, offshore helicopter crashes in the US receive almost no attention. Ditto for crane accidents. If we want to build a proper safety culture, we need to pay as much attention to the low-profile accidents as we do the pollution spectaculars, and everyone needs to participate.
Three offshore oil and gas bills clear House Natural Resources Committee
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged drilling, House Natural Resources Committee, leasing, macondo, offshore drilling, offshore oil, permitting, Regulation, safety on April 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »
- Require that a Central Gulf of Mexico (GoM) oil and gas lease sale be held within 4 months of enactment, and that a second sale for that area be held within 12 months.
- Require that a Western GoM sale be held within 8 months of enactment.
- Stipulate that prior environmental reviews would satisfy NEPA requirements for the GoM sales.
- Require that a Virginia offshore sale be conducted within 1 year of enactment. [Comment: While I support a sale offshore Virginia, I do not believe this can be accomplished in one year.]
- Require that specified volumes of oil and gas (per estimates made by MMS in 2006) be made available for leasing.
- Set offshore production goals.
- Give credits (for use in paying lease bonuses) to companies for costs associated with pre-sale seismic surveys. [Comment: If the legislation provides reasonable assurance that lease sales will be held, why are the seismic survey credits needed? The seismic data will have a high commercial value. Collection of these data should not have to be subsidized by the Federal government.]
- Require that DOI act on drilling applications within 60 days.
- Extend the term leases where the approval of drilling applications was delayed following the Macondo blowout.
- Make the 5th Circuit Court the venue for any civil actions involving GoM energy projects.
- [Comment: The important question is not the number of days that the regulator should be given to review applications, but whether a complex permit review and approval process is the optimal regulatory approach. A lesson learned from virtually every major accident, from Santa Barbara through the Ocean Ranger, Alexander Kielland, Piper Alpha, and Macondo, is that command and control regulation is not in the best interest of offshore safety. Industry should not rely on government to manage its operations and government should focus on safety achievement, not directing the day-to-day activities of offshore companies. Over the long-term, the US would be better served if regulatory resources were dedicated to risk assessment, data analysis, assessment of operator and contractor management systems, targeted inspections and audits, participation in standards development and research, and safety leadership.]
Coast Guard Incident Specific Preparedness Review (Macondo)
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Coast Guard, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill on April 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Good report; worth reading. Some of the positive points are unlikely to get much attention, so we’ll mention them here:
- The National Incident Management System/Incident Command System worked as intended
- Personnel provided by the Responsible Party (RP) and Coast Guard personnel worked effectively together, and there was “unity of effort” throughout the response organization.
- The team found no evidence of collusion between the Coast Guard and RP.
- The response generally benefited from the ability of the Government and the private sector to rapidly assess and adapt to new or unusual contingencies and develop innovative solutions for problems not previously experienced.
- The knowledge acquired and capabilities learned from this experience are unprecedented, and should become a basis for significant improvements in planning, preparedness, and response for industry, Government, and the response community.
Major Energy Address this Morning
Posted in energy, Offshore Energy - General, tagged energy, offshore drilling, offshore oil, President Obama on March 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Previewing his speech at a New York City fundraiser last night, Obama said he wants to break “the pattern of being shocked at high prices and then, as prices go down, being lulled into a trance.”
“Let’s actually have a plan,” he said. “Let’s, yes, increase domestic oil production, but let’s also invest in solar and wind and geothermal and bio-fuels and let’s make our buildings more efficient and our cars more efficient.” USA Today
Encouraging.
Manslaughter charges?
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, bp, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control on March 29, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Fair or harsh? You be the judge.
Federal prosecutors are considering whether to pursue manslaughter charges against BP Plc (BP/) managers for decisions made before the Gulf of Mexico oil well explosion last year that killed 11 workers and caused the biggest offshore spill in U.S. history, according to three people familiar with the matter. Bloomberg
Deepwater Horizon BOP Question
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, BOP, C-SPAN, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, safety, well control on March 29, 2011| Leave a Comment »
The following question is based on an interesting email message that I received from JL Daeschler, a pioneering subsea engineer:
One of the final acts on the Deepwater Horizon crew appears to have been the activation of the emergency disconnect sequence (EDS). The DNV report concludes that this emergency sequence was triggered, but never actually initiated, probably because of a loss of communication to the BOP stack after the initial explosion. Is it possible that the EDS sequence actually was initiated, but that the incomplete closure of the shear ram terminated that sequence?
Looking forward to next week’s hearings. Hopefully C-SPAN will televise the proceedings, because there is not indication that the Joint Investigation has arranged for live streaming.
What’s Next for BOPs?
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, DNV, drilling, macondo, offshore drilling, offshore oil, safety, well control on March 25, 2011| 1 Comment »
Everyone agrees that a series of failures and mistakes leading to the use of containment systems is totally unacceptable. Capping stacks and containment devices, while necessary and important, should never have to be used in the post-Macondo offshore world.
The same cannot be said for blowout preventers. BOPs will be used and will have to work when needed. No matter how carefully drilling programs are planned and executed, there will be hydrocarbon influxes into well bores. While most of these influxes will be “routine kicks,” the equipment must work and the personnel must be trained to use it properly and to function effectively as a team.
The DNV report on the Deepwater Horizon BOP failure included some unexpected findings. These findings will be discussed at the Joint Investigation hearings which begin on 4 April, and will hopefully be televised or streamed live. While attention will focus on specific components, BOPs must be evaluated as complete systems. What new risks have been identified? What are the options for addressing these risks? What risks are posed by the solutions? What other risks, related and unrelated, need to be addressed?
I doubt that there will be any argument with the DNV recommendations. These include studies on elastic buckling, shear blade surfaces, the effectiveness of ROV intervention, and well control procedures (including the sequencing of annular preventer and pipe ram closures); revised testing procedures for backup control systems; improved capabilities for monitoring of the status of BOP functions; and requirements for backup control system performance.
BOP stacks with redundant blind shear rams are becoming more common, and would generally seem to be appropriate for subsea wells. However, attention must be paid to the entire stack with the goal of optimizing overall performance and most effectively managing risks for the type of well that is being drilled and the site-specific conditions.
DNV Deepwater Horizon BOP Forensic Report Released
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, BOP, Deepwater Horizon, DNV, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore drilling, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control on March 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »
The DNV report will be discussed in the upcoming hearings:
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE)/U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Joint Investigation Team, which is examining the Deepwater Horizon explosion and resulting oil spill, today announced that it will hold a seventh session of public hearings the week of April 4, 2011. The hearings, which will focus specifically on the forensic examination of the Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer (BOP), are scheduled to take place at the Holiday Inn Metairie, New Orleans Airport, 2261 North Causeway Blvd., Metairie, La.
