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10 MAY 2010: ANALYSIS The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: An Accident Waiting to Happen The oil slick spreading across the Gulf of Mexico has shattered the notion that offshore drilling had become safe. A close look at the accident shows that lax federal oversight, complacency by BP and the other companies involved, and the complexities of drilling a mile deep all combined to create the perfect environmental storm. by john mcquaid It's hard to believe now, as oil from the wrecked Deepwater Horizon well encroaches on the Louisiana marshes. But it was only six weeks ago that President Obama announced a major push to expand offshore oil and gas drilling. Obama's commitment to lift a moratorium on offshore drilling reflected the widely-held belief that offshore oil operations, once perceived as dirty and dangerous, were now so safe and technologically advanced that the risks of a major disaster were infinitesimal, and managing them a matter of technocratic skill. But in the space of two weeks, both the politics and the practice of offshore drilling have been turned upside down. Today, the notion that offshore drilling is safe seems absurd. The Gulf spill harks back to drilling disasters from decades past - including one off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif. in 1969 that dumped three million gallons into coastal waters and led to the current moratorium. The Deepwater Horizon disaster is a classic "low probability, high impact event" - the kind we've seen more than our share of recently, including space shuttle disasters, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina. And if there's a single lesson from those disparate catastrophes, it's that pre-disaster assumptions tend to be dramatically off-base, and the worst-case scenarios downplayed or ignored. The Gulf spill is no exception. Getty Images/U.S. Coast Guard Fire boats battle the fire on the oil rig Deepwater Horizon after the April 21 explosion. The post-mortems are only beginning, so the precise causes of the initial

As with his 1994 book, Advanced Blowout and Well Control, Grace offers a book that presents tested practices and procedures for well control, all based on solid engineering principles and his own more than 25 years of hands-on field experience. Specific situations are reviewed along with detailed procedures to analyze alternatives and tackle problems. The use of fluid dynamics in well control, which the author pioneered, is given careful treatment, along with many other topics such as relief well operations, underground blowouts, slim hole drilling problems, and special services such as fire fighting, capping, and snubbing. In addition, case histories are presented, analyzed, and discussed. Provides new techniques for blowout containment, never before published, first used in the Gulf War. Provides the most up-to-date techniques and tools for blowout and well control. New case histories include the Kuwait fires that were set by Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War.

As with his 1994 book, Advanced Blowout and Well Control, Grace offers a book that presents tested practices and procedures for well control, all based on solid engineering principles and his own more than 25 years of hands-on field experience. Specific situations are reviewed along with detailed procedures to analyze alternatives and tackle problems. The use of fluid dynamics in well control, which the author pioneered, is given careful treatment, along with many other topics such as relief well operations, underground blowouts, slim hole drilling problems, and special services such as fire fighting, capping, and snubbing. In addition, case histories are presented, analyzed, and discussed. Provides new techniques for blowout containment, never before published, first used in the Gulf War. Provides the most up-to-date techniques and tools for blowout and well control. New case histories include the Kuwait fires that were set by Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War.

This book, based on the SINTEF Offshore Blowout Database, thoroughly examines U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Norwegian and UK North Sea blowouts that occurred from 1980 to 1994. This book reveals the operations that were in progress at the onset of the blowouts and helps you learn from the mistakes of others.

The Perfect Spill: Solutions for Averting the Next Deepwater Horizon By Robert Costanza, David Batker, John Day, Rusty Feagin, M. Luisa Martinez, Joe Roman National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) f we refuse to take into account the full cost of our fossil fuel addiction-if we don't factor in the environmental costs and national security costs and true economic costs-we will have missed our best chance to seize a clean energy future." -President Barack Obama, Carnegie Mellon University, June 2, 2010 he continuing oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon is causing enormous economic and ecological damage. Estimates of the size and duration continue to escalate, but it is now the largest in U.S. history and clearly among the largest oil spills on record.1 s efforts to plug the leak and clean up the damages continue, it is not too soon to begin to draw lessons from this disaster. We need to learn from this experience so we can prevent future oil spills, reevaluate society's current trajectory, and set a better course. ne major lesson is that our natural capital assets and other public goods are far too valuable to continue to put them at such high risk from private interests. We need better (not necessarily more) regulation and strong incentives to protect these assets against actions that put them at risk. While the Obama administration's demand for a trust fund to compensate injured parties is appropriate, it arrived only after the fact. Common asset trusts and new financial instruments like assurance bonds would be better able to shift risk incentives and prevent disasters like the Deepwater Horizon. The Costs: Damages to Natural Capital Assets he spill has directly and indirectly affected at least 20 categories of valuable ecosystem services in and around the Gulf of Mexico. The $2.5 billion per year Louisiana commercial fishery has been almost completely shut down. As the oil extends to popular Gulf Coast beaches, the loss of tourism

This is by far one of the best presentations of the technology of oilwell blowout control. The first chapters present the classic subjects such as the Driller's method and the Weight and Wait method. Later chapters cover more of the current techniques for well control. Each chapter is strucutred to first go through the steps of a method and immediately following with a detail discussion of each step and the consequences of errors in actions and assumptions. All the required calculation methods are provided and presented in refreshing clarity. The last chapter of the book provides a really interesting history of the Kuwait well control efforts. The entire contents of the book assume the reader does have some knowledge of the nomenclature of the BOP stack and the control system. However, the terminology is not overwhelming. The best chapter in the book is the case study toward the end of the book. The author puts everything together that is covered in the previous chapters to resonate ideas and concepts. The one thing that will probably make this a classic is the "turn of events" in this chapter. It reads just like a mystery novel and this writer will not spoil the ending.

"Transparency is not only in the public interest, it is part of the scientific process. We want to make sure that independent scientists, engineers and other experts have every opportunity to review this information and make their own conclusions." -Secretary Chu As part of the Obama Administration's ongoing commitment to transparency surrounding the response to the BP oil spill, the Department of Energy is providing online access to schematics, pressure tests, diagnostic results and other data about the malfunctioning blowout preventer. Secretary Chu insisted on making the data widely available to ensure the public is as informed as possible, and to ensure that outside experts making recommendations have access to the same information that BP and the government have. This site is updated regularly with new data and additional documentation. Latest Information July 9th Combined Total Amount of Oil and Gas Recovered Daily from the Top Hat and Choke Line oil recovery systems. (.xls) (.ods) Visual Breakout of the Cummulative Barrels of Oil Recovered by the LMRP Cap and Q4000. Oil and Gas Flow Data from the Top Hat and from the Choke Line (.xls) (.ods) July 1st Key Events Timeline (.ppt) - This document lists key events beginning with the April 20 fire on the Deepwater Horizon through June 30th. Data Summary from Deepwater Horizon The following documents are a collection of data from operations to control flow from the Deepwater Horizon well. All information was provided directly by BP. The file names have been preserved in order to maintain a traceable record of where each file came from in the BP tracking system and whenever possible, we have worked to ensure that the contents are data readable. Description of System This page gives a general overview of the well, the blow out preventer, the lower marine reservoir package and the riser configuration as best known after the April 20 fire on the Deepwater Horizon. Well Configuration (.pdf)- showing the dept

Gulf Coast Oil Spill Update U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu listens to analysis of oil spill response efforts during his recent trip to Houston, TX. As part of the Obama Administration's ongoing commitment to transparency surrounding the response to the BP oil spill, the Department of Energy is providing online access to schematics, pressure tests, diagnostic results and other data about the malfunctioning blowout preventer. The information is posted at energy.gov/oilspilldata, which will be updated with additional data soon. For the latest information on this effort, visit our Gulf Coast Oil Spill Resource Center.

Well Testing is recognised by many operating oil and gas companies to be the most hazardous operation they routinely undertake. Therefore, it is of great importance that such operations are extremely well planned and executed. This handbook covers all the major "Operational Aspects of Oil and Gas Well Testing" and uses a structured approach to guide the reader through the steps required to safely and effectively plan a well test operation under just about any circumstances world wide. Safety procedures and well testing recommended practices are rigorously addressed in this book, as are the responsibilities of those persons involved in well testing operations. Perforating equipment, drill stem test equipment and bottom hole pressure gauges are discussed in detail in the book. There is also a very valuable section on sub sea equipment, an area often not well understood even by experienced engineers who may have been primarily involved with land or jackup rigs. A major part of the book is the detailed coverage of the equipment and instrumentation that makes up a surface well testing package. It also covers operational and testing related problems such as, hydrates, wax and sand, and offers the reader some possible solutions. There are useful chapters on sampling, onsite chemistry, coil tubing and nitrogen operations and basic stimulation as they relate to well testing. Finally there is an extensive section of appendices covering useful engineering calculations and there is a complete example of a detailed well testing programme

Offshore Risk Assessment was the first book to deal with quantified risk assessment (QRA) as applied specifically to offshore installations and operations. Risk assessment techniques have been used for some years in the offshore oil and gas industry, and their use is set to expand increasingly as the industry moves into new areas and faces new challenges in older regions. This updated and expanded second edition has been informed by a major R&D programme on offshore risk assessment in Norway (2002-2006). It starts with a thorough discussion of risk analysis methodology with subsequent chapters devoted to analytical approaches to escalation, escape, evacuation and rescue analysis of safety and emergency systems. Separate chapters analyze the main hazards of offshore structures: fire, explosion, collision and falling objects. Risk mitigation and control are discussed, as well as a thorough discussion of how the results from quantitative risk assessment studies should be presented.Not only does Offshore Risk Assessment describe the state of the art of QRA, it also identifies weaknesses and areas that need development. A comprehensive reference for academics and students of marine/offshore risk assessment and management, the book should also be owned by professionals in the industry, contractors, suppliers, consultants and regulatory authorities.