RFF suggests putting deepwater risks in context

Resources for the Future, an independent economic research group, suggests that neither government or the oil and gas industry yet has adjusted to the high-risk context of deepwater operations. RAF recommends setting liability caps for individual wells at a level reflecting damages from worst-case spill scenarios.

Lynn Scarlett, RFF visiting scholar and former deputy secretary of the interior, made this comment during a Feb. 15 luncheon symposium hosted by ConocoPhillips at its Houston headquarters.

“One might argue it is rocket science,” Scarlett said of regulating drilling and production activities in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. “No project is business as usual.”

RFF recommends that third-party insurance should be researched as a possible way to strengthen external monitoring of deepwater oil and gas operations. If insurance pools are used to assist smaller firms, fees should be related to risk, Scarlett said.

She said both government and the private sector lacked capacity and practices for performing adequate risk assessments.

‘You just don’t know what you don’t know,” Scarlett said, adding that risk assessment capacity and practices will be a key issue for both industry and regulators going forward after the April 2010 Macondo well blowout and resulting massive oil spill in the gulf.

Crews to protect Macondo casing hanger during BOP swap

The casing hanger and annulus seal have taken center stage in BP PLC’s plan to replace the Transocean Ltd. Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible's blowout preventer with another blowout preventer.

Engineers and scientists calculated 80,000 pounds of force can be used to pull the Deepwater Horizon BOP off the blown-out Macondo well. National Incident Commander and US Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen describes this as “a gentle tug.”

“What they’re concerned about is somehow potentially dislodging the casing hanger that is at the top of the well,” Allen said.

An earlier ambient pressure test indicated a static condition in the annulus, Allen said. This situation gives crews the confidence that they can change out the BOP without causing any harm before proceeding with completion of the relief well.

“What we’re trying not to do is create some change to the static situation in relation to the seals that are keeping the annulus at a static condition as we try and lift the blowout preventer up,” Allen said. “That’s the reason there’s a limit to how much pull we’re using.”

The casing hanger is part of a subsea wellhead system built by Dril-Quip of Houston.

Macondo to undergo standard abandonment process

Nothing has been typical with BP PLC’s deepwater Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico since an Apr. 20 blowout caused an explosion and fire on Transocean Ltd.’s Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible, killing 11 people. The rig sank on Apr. 22, and the well was responsible for a massive oil spill.

Yet eventually, the well will be abandoned according to typical industry practice. BP and its partners will plug and abandon Macondo on Mississippi Canyon Block 252 with nothing left to see, marking a drastic change from months of live video feeds provided publicly via remotely operated vehicles.

The well has been shut in since July 15, and BP engineers plan to swap the Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer with another BOP before completing a relief well, now expected scheduled for after Labor Day. Industry routinely puts on and takes off BOPs.

Kent Wells, BP senior vice-president of exploration and drilling, said industry has very clearly defined regulations and procedures on how to abandon a well.

“There’s a very sophisticated procedure we’ll go through before the well is ultimately abandoned,” Wells said. “But, of course, it will have been killed and cemented…well in advance of that. But, those will be the final steps we’ll take. That will be very much routine, like we do any well when we plug and abandon it.”

The exception being that the Deepwater Horizon BOP, once removed, will be the subject of investigation.