Re: [Paddlewise] Oil spills - final comments from a drill rig standpoint.

It seems pretty clear by now that the Deepwater Horizon blowout has come as
the end result of several links on a long chain of errors coming true.

1. Drilling personnel apparently damaged the annular of the  BOP during some
part of the drilling phase. This was evident by pieces of soft rubber
showing up in the mud returns. The annular is only one of several rams which
are each capable of holding the well pressure in check however it is the
primary one to be able to close around a blowout that is in progress. If the
annular is damaged then the abiiity of the BOP to hold the pressure is in
question and, moreover, the ability of the drilling crew to even KNOW the
well pressure is compromised.

2. Instead of leaving the column of mud in place, BP engineers overruled
Transocean personnel and replaced the mud with sea water just before setting
the last cement plug in the well bore. This saved BP both time and money
(mud is not cheap) and was questioned by the Transocean drillng manager
(their "Toolpusher") according to reports in the media. However the
Toolpusher himself disputed this saying that he could not remember having a
disagreement with BP personnel over this decision.

3. There was some issue with the electronic control system on the BOP which
may have been low battery voltage either at the surface or under water. When
I was a subsea engineer we used a control system that operated at 15vdc and
only had to control solenoid valves that would operate the BOP controls. I'm
sure parts of this have changed. Nevertheless, there has to be some method
of getting control signals from the surface down to the BOP and if the
system is electric and the batteries (these were stacks of NiCad batteries
when I was doing it) must be kept charged.

4. The shear rams on the BOP (one of the rams operates a shear along with
rubber sealing in order to cut the drill string) were not capable of
shearing the drill pipe if the drill collar is in position instead of just
the drill pipe.

5. There was no secondary means of commanding the BOP to do its job. Once
the control cables from the drill floor or the vessel bridge no longer reach
the BOP then all hope of commanding the BOP has been lost save putting
Remote Operated Vehicles into the water and hopign they can do it.

I expect the following to become part of any ruleset regarding deep (or
shallow, for that matter) water drillilng offshore the USA:

A) Well information (mud results, well logs, etc) are the most closely held
secrets of any oil well yet information of soft rubber annular material in
the mud returns were either not shown to MMS or not sent to them. I expect
that to change.

B) I would expect MMS to be more involved in the critical portions of the
drilling processs. In particular the decision making processes involving
shutting a well in pending further work later.

C) I would expect the USCG to create a SubSea Engineer path for marine
engineers so that they be certified and responsible for the correct
maintenance and operations of the BOP. This has always been a safety problem
with the "oil patch" and their continuing refusal to hire (or pay for)
qualified merchant marine officers must stop.

D) Better means of determining when there is no drill collar in the BOP or
even shear rams capable of cutting through the drill string at any point.

E) Use of an acoustic remote control of BOPs in addition to the existing
electronic control systems plus controls capable of commanding the BOPs on
the supply boats which are always in attendance when there is offshore
drilling going on. I would also expect some method of cross-controls so that
a captain on a well in the vicinity could still shut down the BOP at a
nearby wellhead. This would require some distinct method of determining
which BOP is being cntrolled but I expect is fully possible.


Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
www.nwkayaking.net
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