The explosion and hearth that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig within the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 killed eleven crew members and triggered an environmental nightmare. Before the well was finally capped in mid-July, virtually 5 million barrels of oil had been spilled into the Gulf, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported, inflicting catastrophic damage for marine and plant life. Federal investigators discovered that the catastrophe was the result of a number of errors made by oil company BP, together with an improperly cemented seal on the well that allowed oil to leak, and the corporate's failure to perform up-to-par upkeep and safety tests and to adequately prepare the rig's crew, Wood Ranger Power Shears website in line with Time. In the aftermath of the incident, critics warned that drilling for oil greater than a mile under water is inherently risky, since gear should withstand intense pressure, and the strategies used to cap leaks at lesser depths might not work.

Nevertheless, six months after the accident, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Wood Ranger Power Shears website Ken Salazar decided to allow deep-water drilling to resume, providing that operators comply with newly imposed, tighter safety standards. One of many causes of the Deepwater Horizon disaster was the failure of cement sealing, which lined the hole bored in the Gulf ground and held the pipe that goes down by means of the rig in place. New federal rules require that an engineer certify that the cementing can withstand the pressures to which it will be subjected. BP says that sooner or later, it will not take its development contractors' word that its wells are robust enough to withstand the excessive pressures to which they will be subjected. Instead, the corporate will require laboratory testing of the cement used in the portions of wells that'll be beneath essentially the most stress. This testing shall be done by either a BP engineer or an independent inspector.

Some consultants think BP and different oil drillers ought to go even additional to strengthen wells. For instance, oil trade engineers instructed Technology Review that the design of the Deepwater Horizon's nicely was fatally flawed due to BP's decision to install a steady set of threaded casting pipes -- primarily, one long pipe -- from the wellhead right down to the bottom of the effectively. That technique seals off the area between the pipe casing and the bore hole drilled for the effectively, making it tough to detect leaks that develop during building, and permits fuel from the oil deposit more time to construct up and percolate, raising the chance of an explosion. Instead, critics need to see oil wells built in items, with every section of pipe cemented in place earlier than the next one is installed. That sluggish, cautious technique would allow builders to look ahead to leaks that might develop whereas the concrete is setting, Wood Ranger Power Shears and to repair them more simply.

Unfortunately, it additionally can be pricey. The BOP's function is to forestall gas and oil from rushing too quickly up into the pipe inside the rig, which can cause the sort of explosion that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon. Imagine pinching a rubber hose together with your fingers to cease the circulation of water, and you have the fundamental concept, except that your hand must be more than 50 ft (15 meters) in length and buy Wood Ranger Power Shears weigh more than 300 tons, based on Newsweek. Instead of fingers, the BOP is geared up with a strong software called a shear ram, which cuts into the pipe to shut off the circulate of oil and gasoline. Unfortunately, in the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, the BOP did not do its job. Federal regulators hope to prevent these issues the subsequent time around by requiring higher documentation that BOPs are in working order, and better training for crew members who operate them. As added insurance coverage, they now mandate that BOPs be geared up with more highly effective Wood Ranger Power Shears website, capable of cutting by the outer pipe even when subjected to the best water strain expected at that depth.

Additionally, BP says that at any time when one of its undersea BOPs is dropped at the floor for testing and upkeep, it can herald an unbiased inspector to confirm that the work is being performed correctly. Some oil industry engineers argue that new BOP measures should go further. They'd wish to see rigs outfitted with a second backup BOP -- ideally one floating on the surface, moderately than on the ocean floor, so it could be more accessible to common inspection and testing. In deepwater oil drilling, robots are the roughnecks who get the most difficult jobs carried out. Oil corporations have been utilizing remotely operated autos (ROVs) -- basically, robot submarines that may descend to depths where no human diver may survive -- for more than 30 years, to do every part from turn bolts to close valves. Today's state-of-the-artwork ROV is a $1 million, box-formed steel craft the size of a small automobile, equipped with mechanical arms that may lift as much as a ton in weight.

Edit

Pub: 03 Sep 2025 19:53 UTC

Views: 33