blowout preventer

Since the late 1930s, the offshore industry has advanced from the first platform in 14 ft of water to the ultradeepwater 20K era. Driven by seismic, drilling, and development breakthroughs, the industry has pushed into deeper waters, high-pressure reservoirs, and new frontiers like Guyana, continually expanding the limits of offshore exploration.

Proposed revisions to 2019 Well Control Rule aim to bolster safe and environmentally responsible energy operations.

It has often been considered risky to use heavy drillships in depths below 2,000 ft. However, a good measure of innovation and market timing has recently proved otherwise.

Teaser: This paper is intended to provide considerations for operators in developing campaigns to frame scope of work for subsea-blowout-preventer and rig-contracting strategy.

The paper describes the iterative process of development of a novel shear blade able to cut high-strength coiled tubing with 50% of the normal shear force.

In 2013, a technology-development project began that digitized, automated, and applied analytics to blowout preventer pressure testing. As a result of the deployment of automated BOP testing, significant improvements have been achieved in process safety, personal safety, and rig-time savings.

A lot about the blowout preventers used for offshore drilling has changed since Macondo in 2010, but the essentials remain. This evolution serves as a case study on why some oilfield technology is hard to change.

This paper describes the mobilization of a snubbing unit and blowout preventer (BOP) stack in the Middle East that enabled a well with an underground blowout and surface broaching to be brought under control within a short time.

The new well control rule is evidence that memories of the Macondo blowout remain a powerful force for caution. Despite the rhetoric on both sides of this hot-button issue suggesting big changes, the final changes were incremental.

The biggest drilling company appears interested in becoming the most innovative. It is testing inventions ranging from a blowout preventer that is not hydraulically powered to power systems designed like a hybrid car.