Toolkits adapt to keep pace with drill demands

摘要

WHILE the essential equipment designed to tackle a subsea well blowout largely resembles the kit developed during the Deepwater Horizon spill response, organisations such as Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC) and Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) continue to refine systems to respond to a wider range of possible scenarios and well conditions.Among the most recent additions to the arsenal is Saipem's Offset Installation Equipment (OIE), a system designed to deal with blowouts in shallower waters where the hydrocarbon plume from a blowout would prevent emergency response vessels from being positioned directly above the well.The system is built around a 250-tonne carrier, based on the principle of the hot-air balloon, which is used to install anchors around the well and, with remotely operated vehicles and a complex system of winches and cables, to position equipment over the well for intervention and the capping stack for installation.