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DEEPWATER HORIZON (WHAT HAPPENED? (On the 20th April 2010, the Deepwater…

- - - - Figure 1: Deepwater Horizon oil rig; fire
        Source: Encyclopedia Britannica (2010)
    - - 8000-12000 people temporarily unemployed or underemployed due to the ongoing crises.
- - - - Halliburton continued with the compound and Transocean and BP employees accepted the job as sound and continued operations without questioning the compressive strength of the cementing seal
  - - - A total of 21 centralizers would be required to safely complete the cementing job
      - 15 more were sourced and dispatched to the rig however the time that it would take for these to be set up would delay operations further (Darlow Smithson Productions, 2012)
        
        The crew were ordered to continue with the cement seal with the initial 6 units.
- - - - Airconditioning
- - - - Takes time and resources away from production
- - - - Figure 6: Inside the Blind Shear Ram
        Source: Gröndahl et al. 2010
- - - - Not willing to bring up potential issues, overlooking potential failures in favour of 'getting the job done'
- - - - No continuous monitoring systems
    - - Lack of documented procedures surrounding points of operation, such as the negative pressure test
      - Management overrode safety and operational decisions due to time constraints and budget
      - Business communication systems lacking - breakdown in communications between BP, Halliburton and Transocean employees
      - Deficits in training documentation protocols
    - - Failures by BP to transfer risk assessment systems and findings to offshore management
        
        Failures to address increased risks and delegate tasks accordingly
      - Communication breakdown between the driller and mud logger led to ineffective well monitoring (Tabibzadeh & Meshkati, 2014)
  - - - The last few inspections of the entire operation were performed in under 2 hours indicating there may not have been a complete and thorough inspection of all the rigs safety mechanisms and equipment
  - - - Leased by BP.
        
        Multiple contractors utilized during operations
        
        Suppliers/Logistics
        
        Daily operations
        
        Maintenaince
        
        Halliburton, also referred to as Serry Sun, was one of the contractors. They were used to perform the concreting of the well for temporary abandonment
        
        Rig Supervisors and management roles were filled by BP employees
        
        These people made many of the key decisions with little consultation with rig workers or contractors
      - Owned and commissioned by Transocean
        
        Staffing provided by Transocean to assist in daily operation of rig
- - - - Originally intended as an exploratory well to determine and survey the region for extractable oils and gases that may be further utilized in the future
        
        Several zones discovered at varying depths in the region (National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council 2012)
        
        Different levels of pressure detected between the reservoir pores
        
        Drilling mud needed to prevent reservoir flow
      - Planned total depth of 19 650 ft (~6000m), however in April 2010, drilling was halted at 18 360 ft due to ongoing delays and complications.
        
        Preparations for temporary well abandonment were underway
    - - Water temperatures
    - - Questions raised over drilling safety in the region, an area often affected by tropical storms and hurricanes.
        
        Kaiser (2008) provides an overview of challenges faced within the region due to environmental instability. This research is important in understanding infrastructure considerations, importance of safety systems and evacuation procedures. This demonstrates alternative needs for the systems and shows the importance of maintaining the integrity of these systems in the event of critical failures. It also provides context to drilling time frames and deadlines to ensure smooth operation and preventative measures to avoid excessive impacts
  - - - Disconnect between switches caused equipment failure
      - 'Dead mans switch' which should have activated in the event of power failure malfunctioned
    - - Design and testing of the BOP was not adequate to dynamic condition specifications and were not reliable for a fail safe device of this importance