Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill from what i have read, the contingency plan was "it wont happen in the first place". they gave all the reasons that it couldnt/wouldnt happen and that was it. no "just in case" plans.
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill Big companies analyze risk using a framework called Enterprise Risk Management. Using ERM you look at risks in terms of their likelihood and impact. Having helped some smaller oil companies implement ERM I figure this kind of catastrophe we either fall into the bucket of risks with low likelihood and huge impact. This would put it in the category of a secondary risk. You generally control for secondary risks, and BP did with blow out preventers. I would assume the double whammy of a well explosion and a blow out preventer failure would end up in the low likelihood low impact quadrant, and resources would not be spent there. Reasoning that I can see how they came to that conclusion.
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill Does something like this rewrite the ERM now? And that everything and anything needs to be considered and have a ready to go plan if the worse happens!
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill No. Organizations cannot control or mitigate all their risks. ERM is just a framework for assessing risks, setting the companies risk apetite, and aligining those with company objectives and risk management stratagies. What this may change is BP's apetite for risk.
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill some food for thought in this article. Investigators: Leak caused well device to fail - Yahoo! News and in things that have a high disaster impact, even if the risk is low, seems like the prudent thing to do is have a plan, just in case. all the erm stuff is just excuse mumbo-jumbo. you can assess and understand the risk and still plan for the worst case scenerio, no matter how low. i mean, what are the probabilities that your house is gonna catch fire or get hit by a tornado? i'll bet that even when very very low, you still have a safety plan, just in case. if not, you are a fool. same here, imo.
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill Exactly. The hubris to think they could design a system with a 0% chance of failure is just plain unacceptable.
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill "Jason Mathews, an MMS official who sits on the six-member joint Coast Guard and MMS investigative board, questioned Frank Patton, the agency's New Orleans District drilling engineer, about his approval of BP's drilling permit. MMS regulation 250.416(e) requires would-be drillers to submit proof that the blowout preventer they are using to shut off the well will have enough power to shear a drill pipe in case of an emergency. Patton testified he was not aware of any such requirement and never demands it from more than 100 applications his office reviews each year." Updates from rig explosion hearings: MMS engineer admits he approved blowout preventer | NOLA.com
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill "But in the end, the panel's co-chairman, Coast Guard Capt. Hung Nguyen, and MMS official Jason Mathews made it clear that the blowout preventer and the cement seal were secondary means of protection, and that the primary defense against a blowout was the drilling mud that was removed shortly before a blast of natural gas and slushy methane hydrates blew out of the well and ignited on the Deepwater Horizon's deck April 20. The Times-Picayune has reported that eyewitnesses with knowledge of the drill floor operations said that as the rig's crew prepared to finish exploratory drilling, officials decided to displace the protective column of heavy mud with light seawater earlier than necessary and before a key plug was placed in the well bore." Minerals Management Service oversight questioned during Kenner hearing into Gulf of Mexico oil leak | NOLA.com
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill ""So, MMS approves the design of the well, but they don't check what type of pipe is used. And we have a study some time ago about whether a shear ram would cut a certain pipe (to shut off a well in an emergency), but we don't know what was installed here." "We have self-certification of critical equipment and safety notices that are not enforceable..." "Saucier said new rules were written in 2001 to require secondary control systems for blowout preventers, the stacks of valves and pistons on the seafloor that are supposed to shut a well in an emergency, but MMS higher-ups in Washington never approved the regulations." Federal inspectors have little control over oil rig safety systems: Gulf oil rig hearing in Kenner | NOLA.com
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill " investigation...reveals that ... the blowout preventer, had a leak in a crucial hydraulic system. ... the investigation also discovered that the well had failed a negative pressure test just hours before the April 20 explosion. He cited BP documents received by the Energy and Commerce Committee that showed there was a breach in the well integrity that allowed methane gas and possibly other hydrocarbons to enter the well." Gulf oil rig's blowout preventer had leak, Rep. Henry Waxman says | NOLA.com
