Following Through: How Industry and Government are Improving the Safety of Offshore Energy Development in the Post-Macondo Era

摘要

The oil and natural gas industry and the federal government have together taken great strides to improve the safety of offshore drilling operations since the Macondo incident in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Immediately following the incident, the U.S. oil and natural gas industry launched a comprehensive review of offshore safety and operations to identify potential improvements in spill prevention, intervention and response capabilities. Four joint industry task forces were assembled to focus on the critical areas of equipment, operating procedures, subsea well control and oil spill response. The task forces also worked with U.S. Department of the Interior and the Presidential Oil Spill Commission to help form their recommendations to improve offshore safety and the regulatory framework. These Industry recommendations will be presented. Additionally, post-Macondo reports contain strong recommendations on the need for the Federal government to collaborate with national and international Standards Development Organizations and the offshore oil and gas community in developing new standards and updating existing standards. The presentation will outline the new standards and regulations in place including: API Standard 53 Blowout Prevention Equipment Systems for Drilling Operations; API Standard 65-2 Isolating Potential Flow Zones During Well Construction; API RP 96 Deepwater Well Design and Construction; API Bulletin 97 Well Construction Interface Document Guidelines; API RP 17W Recommended Practice for Subsea Capping Stacks , API Spec 16A Specification for Drill-through Equipment; and API RP 17H Remotely Operated Tools and Interfaces on Subsea Production Systems.