Are We Drilling For Oil In The U.S.

The explosion and fire that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 killed eleven crew members and triggered an environmental nightmare. Before the properly was finally capped in mid-July, almost 5 million barrels of oil had been spilled into the Gulf, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported, inflicting catastrophic harm for marine and plant life. Federal investigators discovered that the disaster was the results of multiple errors made by oil firm BP, including an improperly cemented seal on the nicely that allowed oil to leak, and the corporate's failure to perform up-to-par maintenance and iTagPro Product security exams and to adequately prepare the rig's crew, in response to Time. In the aftermath of the incident, critics warned that drilling for oil more than a mile beneath water is inherently dangerous, since gear must withstand intense pressure, and the methods used to cap leaks at lesser depths may not work.



Nevertheless, six months after the accident, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar determined to permit deep-water drilling to resume, offering that operators adjust to newly imposed, tighter security standards. One of the causes of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe was the failure of cement sealing, which lined the outlet bored within the Gulf ground and held the pipe that goes down by way of the rig in place. New federal regulations require that an engineer certify that the cementing can withstand the pressures to which it will be subjected. BP says that in the future, it will not take its building contractors' phrase that its wells are robust enough to withstand the extreme pressures to which they'll be subjected. Instead, iTagPro Product the corporate would require laboratory testing of the cement used in the parts of wells that'll be beneath the most stress. This testing will be carried out by either a BP engineer or an independent inspector. Some consultants think BP and different oil drillers should go even further to strengthen wells.



For instance, oil business engineers informed Technology Review that the design of the Deepwater Horizon's well was fatally flawed because of BP's determination to install a steady set of threaded casting pipes -- basically, one long pipe -- from the wellhead right down to the bottom of the effectively. That method seals off the house between the pipe casing and the bore hole drilled for the properly, making it tough to detect leaks that develop throughout building, and allows fuel from the oil deposit more time to build up and percolate, elevating the chance of an explosion. Instead, critics want to see oil wells inbuilt pieces, with each part of pipe cemented in place before the subsequent one is put in. That gradual, cautious technique would allow builders to watch for leaks that might develop whereas the concrete is setting, and to fix them more simply. Unfortunately, it also would be expensive.



The BOP's perform is to prevent gasoline and oil from dashing too rapidly up into the pipe inside the rig, which may cause the type of explosion that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon. Imagine pinching a rubber hose together with your fingers to stop the flow of water, and you've got the basic idea, besides that your hand must be greater than 50 feet (15 meters) in length and weigh more than 300 tons, based on Newsweek. Instead of fingers, the BOP is geared up with a robust tool referred to as a shear ram, which cuts into the pipe to shut off the flow of oil and fuel. Unfortunately, within the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the BOP didn't do its job. Federal regulators hope to stop those problems the subsequent time around by requiring better documentation that BOPs are in working order, and better coaching for crew members who operate them. As added insurance coverage, they now mandate that BOPs be geared up with extra powerful shears, capable of chopping via the outer pipe even when subjected to the best water strain anticipated at that depth.



Additionally, BP says that each time one of its undersea BOPs is dropped at the surface for testing and maintenance, it would herald an impartial inspector to verify that the work is being carried out correctly. Some oil business engineers argue that new BOP measures ought to go additional. They'd like to see rigs geared up with a second backup BOP -- ideally one floating on the floor, moderately than on the ocean ground, so it could be more accessible to common inspection and testing. In deepwater oil drilling, robots are the roughnecks who get essentially the most difficult jobs performed. Oil corporations have been using remotely operated autos (ROVs) -- principally, robot submarines that can descend to depths the place no human diver may survive -- for greater than 30 years, to do every little thing from turn bolts to shut valves. Today's state-of-the-art ROV is a $1 million, field-formed steel craft the dimensions of a small automobile, outfitted with mechanical arms that can elevate as much as a ton in weight.