1. Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Daniel Broers INDT 442-40 December, 3 2012

2.  On April 20 th, 2010 the Deepwater Horizon (an offshore oil-drilling platform leased by BP) exploded, causing the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. 53,000 barrels of crude oil leaked out of the underwater wellhead per day unabated for three months until finally on July 15 th, 2010, the wellhead was capped after releasing 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. By July 9 th it was estimated that oil had covered over 491 miles of coastline in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida and had caused extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats including the Gulf’s fishing and tourism industries. The explosion killed 11 men working on the oil platform and injured 17 others.

3.  Executive Summary  Picture of leaking well head  The Deepwater Horizon Information  Oil sightings and marine life pictures  Oil sightings and marine life information  Efforts to stop the flow  To error is human/organizational influences  One bad apple  Recommendations  Resources

4. The Leaking Underwater Wellhead

5. The Deepwater Horizon was a 9 year old massive floating oil drilling rig that could operate in waters up to 10,000 feet deep. It was built by a South Korean company, Hyundai Heavy Industries. It was owned by Transocean and leased to BP from Match 2008 to September 2013. At the time of the explosion, it was drilling a 35,050 foot deep exploratory well at a water depth of 5,100 feet in the Macondo Prospect Block 252 in the Gulf of Mexico, about 41 miles off the coast of Louisiana. At approximately 9:45pm, on April 20 th 2010, high pressure methane gas from the underwater wellhead expanded into the drill pipes and was released onto the drilling rig, where it ignited and exploded, engulfing the drilling rig. Most of workers on the platform escaped on lifeboats and then evacuated by boat and helicopter. Eleven workers were never found after an extensive 3-day coast guard search. Efforts by multiple ships to extinguish the flames were unsuccessful and after burning for 36 hours the Deepwater Horizon sank on the morning of April 22 nd 2010.

7.  Oil began washing up on the beaches on June 1 st and by June 4 th it had covered 125 miles of Louisiana’s, Mississippi’s, and Florida’s coastline. Multiple sightings had place oil ranging from West Bay, TX all the way to Tampa, FL. Along with the multiple sightings on the ocean surface and coastlines, huge underwater oil plumes also existed. According to a research vessel substantial layers of oily sediment stretching for dozens of miles in all directions suggested that a lot of oil did not evaporate or disperse but rather settled to the seafloor. In some cases this oil was over 2 inches thick mixed with large amount of shrimp and crab larva. The oil spill all but completely shut down fishing and shrimping boats in the Gulf. Although a lot of shrimp and fish remained, due to EPA codes many of them contained too large of amounts of contaminates to be catchable for human consumption. The Gulf of Mexico’s large reliance on fishing was devastated.

8. The first attempts to stop the flow of oil was the use of remotely operated underwater vehicles to close the valves on the well head. These first attempts failed so next they tried placing a 126,000 ton containment dome over the leak and piping the oil to a storage vessel on the surface. This attempt failed because gas leaking from the pipe combined with cold water formed crystals that blocked the opening at the top of the dome. They then tried pumping in heavy drilling fluid into the blowout preventer to restrict the flow of oil before sealing it permanently with cement. this method also called a “top kill”, also failed. They finally decided to start drilling relief wells and pumping test oil, drilling mud, and then capping it off with concrete. the pumping of concrete into the well began on September 16 2010 and the well was officially dead on September 19 2010.

9.  A panel found that BP (leased Deepwater Horizon), Halliburton (in charge of the cement that secured the underwater well from gas leaks), and Transocean (owner of Deepwater Horizon) had attempted to work cheaper and thus helped to trigger the explosion and oil leak.  It was found that BP was months behind production schedule and over 50 million dollars over budget on the drilling platform.  Before Halliburton began injecting concrete into the well for the gas barrier they had assumed that BP had run a cement bond log test and were acting upon their orders.  Due to time constraints the Deepwater Horizon crew failed to take appropriate action after a gas “kickback” on the platform 5 weeks before the explosion.  Personnel changes and conflicts aboard the rig created confusion over who was responsible for key decisions.

10.  If we were to follow the teaching of the “bad apple theory” we could solely lay blame upon BP for multiple issues.  BP cut corners because they were behind schedule and over budget on production from the platform.  BP did not properly perform a cement bond log test before tell Halliburton to inject the concrete necessary to create the barrier in the well to block gases from coming to the surface which failed and ultimately caused the explosion.  BP did not properly transfer the chain of command upon the platform during the time of personnel transfer prior the explosion.

11.  I would recommend that the government step up the control parameters on off shore drilling. The private companies had too much control on the gas barrier preventing this disaster and upon the policies implemented because the platform was behind schedule and over budget.  The blow preventer which is a 300 ton mechanism which prevents this type of disaster was experiencing a hydraulic leak and also had a dead battery. This is unacceptable and should have been mitigated. Since the private sector obviously cannot be trusted to keep up on maintenance such as this, the government agencies should have stricter policies on the maintenance of these floating platforms and require a more intrusive schedule for inspections.

12.  USAToday.com  Wikipedia.com  NewYorkTimes.com  Msnbc.msn.com  Ombwatch.org  Thedailygreen.com  Treehugger.com