In the complaint, the United States alleges violations of federal safety and operational regulations, including:
Posts Tagged ‘safety’
Justice Department sues BP, partners, and Transocean
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, DOJ, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, oil spill, safety, well control on December 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Who needs futbol? Deepwater discoveries propel Brazil
Posted in accidents, Offshore Energy - General, oil, tagged Brazil, offshore oil, P36, safety on December 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »
President-elect Dilma joked recently that the oil discoveries were just the latest proof that God is Brazilian. And economists from Goldman Sachs no less are predicting that Brazil — along with Russia, China and India — will dominate the world economy in the 21st century.
If you didn’t see the 60 Minutes story on Brazil, you can view it here. With regard to the significance of Brazil’s recent deepwater discoveries, OGX owner Eike Batista offered the following:
Oh, it, it means we should be producing in excess of six million barrels a day. So it’ll put us in among the third, fourth largest producer in the world. Massive exporting.
According to this blog entry, Batista forecasts this 6 million bopd production rate (more than double the current output) by 2020!
Like other offshore producers, Brazil has experienced its tragedies, most notably the sinking of the P-36 production platform that resulted in 11 fatalities. Petrobras and Brazil have recovered nicely from that disaster, but outstanding safety performance is critical if they are to sustain their offshore success.
Chemical Safety Board Macondo Hearings on December 15
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, chemical safety board, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control on December 14, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Good Platt’s Column
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, INPO, macondo, offshore oil, Platts, safety, well control on December 14, 2010| Leave a Comment »
This is a very good column that we are posting with the permission of Gary Gentile, Platts Oilgram.
The Gulf of Mexico hurricane season is over
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, tagged Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes, macondo, offshore oil, safety on December 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »
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
Swiss court blocks Transocean dividend payment
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, Andarko, blowouts, bp, Cameron, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, Mitsui, offshore oil, safety, Switzerland, transocean, well control on December 11, 2010| Leave a Comment »
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?
Helix organizing alternative well containment capability
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, Helix, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, safety on December 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »
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.
Good Wall Street Journal Article
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, Australia, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, Montara, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control on December 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »
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.
More from the BOEMRE-CG Macondo Hearings
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, BOEMRE, Coast Guard, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control on December 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »
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.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Canada, CBC, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, well control on December 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »
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.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 