Deepwater in the Deeps Fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico

Athran Zuhail Abdul Rahman

Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering [email protected]

26 February 2017

1 What is the Deepwater Horizon Technical specification

• Offshore drilling rig • can accomodate 166 persons • 51,735 short tonnes in operating displacements • 8000 feet (2438 m) maximum operating water depth • 30,000 feet (9144 m) maximum drilling depth1

1Deepwater Nautilus. 15 January 2016. Retrvd www.deepwater.com 2 What is the Deepwater Horizon History 1998 – Construction started by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, South Korea 2001 – Deepwater Horizon was delivered to Transocean 2001 - 2009 – leased to BP and was operated around the Gulf of Mexico oil fields (Atlantis, Thunder Horse, Kaskida) 2009 – Discovered oil in the Tiber Field with a well at the depth of 10,683 m below 1259 m of ocean. This well holds the record as the deepest offshore well ever drilled. *for comparison, the Kola Superdeep Borehole is 12 km* 2 15 February 2010 – DWH began drilling in the Macondo Prospect Oil Field. 2Ask Smithsonian: What’s the Deepest Hole Ever Dug? 19 February 2015. Retrvd http://www.smithsonianmag.com 3 The Explosion Location: Macondo Prospect

4 The Explosion Location: Macondo Prospect

5 The Explosion Before the event

• BP skipped a quality test for the cement around the pipe despite noticing cementing problem • A BOP safety test was also allowed to be delayed • Tests found pressure build up but the rig team proceeded anyway 3

3http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/us/06rig.html 6 The Explosion The event • 9:45 pm, 20 April 2010 – A jolt was felt on the rig, followed by a big shock. Magenta warnings were flashing in the control room. • Blowback – Methane, mud and oil shot up the from the well through the drill pipe into the platform, and ignited in a massive fireball, killing 11 personnel and injuring 17. • Immediate response – The Bridge failed to activate the emergency shutdown of the platform even after the gas sensors went off 4 • 22 April – the platform sank • An estimated total of 4.9 million barrels of oil were released into the Gulf (estimation by Flow Rate Technical Group) 4http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/12/26/us/20101226- deepwater-horizon-rig-video-diagram.html 7 The Explosion Immediate cause

• Problematic casing size caused increased pressure inside the bore (pressure for mud circulation) • Abnormally high pressure caused a check valve to not close, which may have caused the cement to be contaminated with mud, making it weaker. The cement was not inspected • Drill pipe was not properly centered (as per Halliburton recommendation), which prevented the BOP from shutting down the pipe

8 The Spill Extent

http://cen.acs.org/articles/91/i22/Deepwater-Horizon-Disaster.html

9 The Spill

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/oil-may-have-killed-gulf-dolphins/

10 Contributing Factors Regulations lacking

• Old regulations were meant for shallow water operation. Ad hoc exceptions were made because the legislators couldn’t keep pace with the technology. Only fifty rigs operate at water deeper than 1000 feet, out of a total of 3500 rigs in the region • Deep water operation used equipments that were relatively new and not very well regulated, or else were operating existing equipments at conditions beyond those stated in the regulations • MMS was very lax in its regulation of drilling companies, trusting the companies to run their tests as scheduled. Emergency response plan for DWH was very lacking.5

5http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/us/06rig.html 11 Contributing Factors Lack of effective management and coordination • Of the 126 people present on the day of the explosion, only eight were employees of BP • Conflict: BP can make more money by completing drilling jobs quickly, Transocean receives more money from BP the longer they drill • Halliburton provided cementing services. A subsidiary monitored various drilling fluids. Different companies provided drilling fluid systems, technicians to operate the remote-control vehicles that are the eyes of the rig crew deep underwater, and the well casing. • Among the various teams, there’s no centralized authority that upholds the safety of the operation. Communication between teams were poor. 6 6http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/us/06rig.html 12 Contributing Factors Financial concerns

• The operation was behind schedule and over budget • DWH costed $500,000 a day to lease from Transocean • The rig was supposed to start a new drilling operation 43 days before the explosion, and the delay had already costed BP more than $21 million • The financial pressure meant that bad decisions were made and warning signs were ignored. 7

7http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/us/06rig.html 13 THE END

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