By David Wethe (Bloomberg) -- Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. is turning over care and handling of the massive rig safety devices designed to stop well blowouts to General Electric Co. in an agreement that establishes a new industry model. GE Oil & Gas will buy the blowout preventers on four of Diamond Offshore’s newest drillships for $210 million, and rent the devices … [Read more...]
PHOTOS: BSEE Inspects Shell’s Critical Arctic Containment Equipment
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement this week oversaw testing of Shell’s proposed Arctic-ready capping system, a key piece of containment equipment that is considered the line of defense in the case of a major blowout while drilling in the remote arctic waters of the Chukchi Sea. The tests were carried out before BSEE personnel in Washington's Puget … [Read more...]
Hercules 265 Jack-Up Rig Blowout – “By No Means Was it the Rig Hands Fault”
An anonymous gCaptain source gave us the second-hand run down of what transpired on board the Hercules 265 when at 0845 on July 23, well A-3 blew out at South Timbalier 220, forcing the evacuation of the rig, and leading to a catastrophic well fire 14 hours later. The scenario The rig crew had been conducting completion work on the sidetrack well to prepare it for … [Read more...]
Hercules Jack-Up Rig Fire is Out, Rowan Jack-Up Contracted for Relief Well
Update 5 (29 July 2013) On 27 July, BSEE approved a permit application by Walter Oil and Gas to drill the relief well which will permanently kill the well that blew out last week, destroying a fixed gas platform and seriously damaging the Hercules 265 drilling rig. Rowan Drilling's EXL-3 jack-up rig has been contracted by Walter and is on location at South Timbalier 220. Crews … [Read more...]
How a Jack-Up Rig Blowout Occurs
From a drilling safety standpoint, jack-up rigs are inherently more dangerous than floating rigs for two main reasons. First, if the well blows out and catches fire, there’s no way to unlatch the rig from the wellhead and move off station, thus removing the fuel source. Either the blowout preventer will close and the fire is extinguished, or the rig is going to burn to … [Read more...]
BOP Blowout! $4.5 Billion Surge in Orders for 400-Ton Subsea Failsafe
The five-story-tall valve that failed to stop the biggest offshore U.S. oil spill is heading toward a $4.5 billion surge in orders as deep-water oil explorers seek to minimize costs on the world's most expensive drilling rigs. Cameron International Corp. and National Oilwell Varco Inc., the two top makers of blow-out preventers, are racing to meet the biggest wave of … [Read more...]
Shell Spills Oily Drilling Mud into the Gulf of Mexico
A Shell-contracted deepwater drilling rig accidently spilled 319 barrels of oily mud into the sea yesterday while operating in in the Gulf of Mexico's Mississippi Canyon. This news is not as terrible as it may sound however... Sources tell gCaptain that the leak happened at a water depth of around 5,000 feet and was due to a failed seal on the drilling riser mud boost line … [Read more...]