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Australia Update

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , on September 11, 2010| Leave a Comment »

  • NOPSA has issued an excellent Health and Safety Performance Report for Australian offshore operations.  Here’s the link.
  • BOE fave Martin Ferguson has retained his energy post in the new government.  We trust that he will release the Montara Inquiry report without further delay.
  • Per Upstream, the destroyed West Atlas jackup rig is being removed from the Montara wellhead platform in the Timor Sea, and all wells have been secured with barriers.  In light of the lessons learned at Montara, can we assume that corrosion caps and well fluids are not being counted as barriers?  What is next for the Montara?  Will PTTEP be authorized to resume development of the field?  Should they be?

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International Regulators’ Forum Concludes Extraordinary Meeting

Posted in accidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »

On 8-9 September, the International Regulators’ Forum (IRF) met in Herndon, Virginia, to address offshore safety issues in the wake of the Macondo and Montara blowouts.  This was the first extraordinary meeting in the IRF’s 17-year history.  In a statement released after the meeting, the IRF resolved to:

  • Provide leadership on safety and safety related regulatory matters for offshore oil and gas activities.  A strategic agenda will be discussed and adopted at the next IRF meeting in October in Vancouver.
  • Develop an audit protocol looking at BOP integrity and operational issues, for use by all IRF members to provide a consistent approach.
  • Continue to strengthen sharing of regulatory practice and experience and provide a sounding board for key initiatives of members.

These and other offshore safety issues will be discussed at the upcoming (18-20 October) IRF conference in Vancouver.  This conference is open to all interested parties.

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BP – Transocean Dispute Heats Up

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , on September 9, 2010| 1 Comment »

Transocean slams the BP Macondo report:

However, rig owner Transocean slammed the report, saying: “This is a self-serving report that attempts to conceal the critical factor that set the stage for the Macondo incident: BP’s fatally-flawed well design.”

BOE Comment: At a time when the safety of oil and gas operations is rightfully under intense scrutiny, this ugly dispute further undermines public confidence in offshore exploration and development.  BP, Transocean, Halliburton, Cameron, and other feuding companies need to resolve their disputes so they can fully and credibly participate in the critical industry and governmental programs that are addressing offshore safety and pollution prevention issues.

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DOI Safety Oversight Board Issues Report

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on September 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

“The goal of our efforts is a culture of safety, in which protecting human life and preventing environmental disasters are the highest priorities, while making leasing and production safer and more sustainable,” said Assistant Secretary Wilma Lewis, who chaired the Safety Oversight Board.

The report of the Department of the Interior’s Safety Oversight Board has been posted on the DOI website.  The report recommends certain improvements in DOI’s offshore oil and gas regulatory program. Because of my participation in this project, I won’t comment on the specifics of the report.  I will say that I was impressed by the professionalism of the Board and the DOI staff who assisted with the project.  All views were openly discussed and carefully considered.

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BP Report Released

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Here is the link.

Our main interest was in the flow path and BOP issues:

Flow path:

The investigation team concluded that hydrocarbon ingress was through the shoe track, rather than through a failure in the production casing itself or up the wellbore annulus and through the casing hanger seal assembly.

BOP:

  1. The explosions and fire very likely disabled the emergency disconnect sequence
  2. The condition of critical components in the yellow and blue control pods on the BOP very likely prevented activation of another emergency method of well control, the automatic mode function (AMF), which was designed to seal the well without rig personnel intervention upon loss of hydraulic pressure, electric power and communications from the rig to the BOP control pods. An examination of the BOP control pods following the accident revealed that there was a fault in a critical solenoid valve in the yellow control pod and that the blue control pod AMF batteries had insufficient charge; these faults likely existed at the time of the accident.
  3. Remotely operated vehicle intervention to initiate the autoshear function, another emergency method of operating the BOP, likely resulted in closing the BOP’s blind shear ram (BSR) 33 hours after the explosions, but the BSR failed to seal the well.
BP’s flow path assessment is consistent with our expectations.  Early on, while most of the attention was focused on the annulus, we thought that flow inside the production casing was a distinct possibility.  With regard to the BOPs, BP’s explanation is a more complete than we expected at this time, given that the stack has just been recovered.
More to follow.

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    Colin Leach Issues Preliminary Findings

    Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

    While we wait for the Bly Report (BP), Colin Leach (without the benefit of staff and access) has issued his concise and credible report on Macondo. I recommend that you take a few minutes to read it. Many thanks to Colin for his continued leadership on offshore safety issues.

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    Gillard will continue as Prime Minister of Australia

    Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on September 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

    Julia Gillard

    Martin Ferguson is likely to retain his post as Minister for Resources and Energy.  We trust that he will now release the Montara Inquiry Report as promised.  When has a politician ever broken a promise?  Never happens in this country 🙂

    Upstream Article on Australia’s minority government.

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    Rumor: BP’s internal report to be released on Wednesday.

    Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

    BOE has received unconfirmed reports that BP’s internal investigation into the causes of the Macondo blowout will be released on Wednesday (8 September) in Washington, DC.  The investigation team of more than 70 engineers and other staff has been headed by Mark Bly, BP’s Group VP for Safety and Operations.  Stay tuned!

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    Labor Day Salute to Offshore Workers

    Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on September 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

    Diamond Offshore Workers Receiving SAFE Award Recognition

    On Labor Day 2010, BOE is proud to salute the thousands of dedicated offshore professionals, in the US and around the world, who work in remote locations under challenging conditions to provide energy for our economy and our way of life. Regardless of one’s opinion about oil and gas operations, wind projects, and other sources of offshore energy, we should all appreciate the important contributions made by offshore workers.

    While investigations and enforcement actions are necessary, positive recognition is even more important, especially at times like these.  The overwhelming majority of offshore workers do their jobs conscientiously and carefully, and make every effort to protect their colleagues and the environment.  It is these workers who are most at risk when an accident occurs, not those of us who are sitting behind a desk philosophizing and pontificating. Their lives and the lives of their friends and colleagues are threatened when accidents occur, their “back yard” is polluted when oil is spilled, and their jobs are at stake if offshore exploration and development are curtailed.

    Fortunately for us, energy exploration and production doesn’t stop on holidays. Whether they are working or enjoying the day with their friends and families, BOE wants offshore workers to know that we appreciate their important contributions.  Happy Labor Day!

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    Deepwater Horizon BOP Recovered

    Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , on September 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

    if

    Deepwater Horizon BOP Stack

    Oh, what might have been …..

    If this BOP had prevented the explosion, fire, and blowout, 11 offshore workers would still be alive, a mega-spill would have been prevented, tens of billions of dollars would have been saved, the Gulf region would have avoided a major crisis, the national economy would be stronger, and our energy future would be much brighter.

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