Offshore Drilling: New Tools for Emergency Well Capping

Industry responds to the Macondo/Gulf of Mexico well blowout with new tools to cap such a blown out well, as reported at After Macondo: Emergency Well Capping:

In the wake of the spill, the industry and the wider world has switched on to the possibility of a similar disaster occurring again. Particularly given the increasing depths at which deepwater platforms are now operating, the logistics behind capping a leaking well are mind-boggling.

As a result, a number of emergency well capping devices are concurrently in development or under construction now. Some are intended and tailored for use in particular offshore regions, while others are being offered to oil companies as a kind of global insurance policy against any future disasters.

See the home page of the Marine Well Containment Company (source of the illustration above). It is reported the system MWCC has works down to 10,000 feet. There's a video at that site that shows how the system is supposed to work.

MWCC's start up was funded by ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and ConocoPhillips. Membership today has expanded:

The MWCC member companies are now Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Apache, Anadarko, BHP Billiton, Statoil and Hess. These 10 companies operated approximately 70 percent of deepwater wells drilled in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico between 2007 through 2009.

As full disclosure, I am a former Chevron employee, looking forward to small retirement check from them in the future.

Navy Airship to Go to Oil Spill

Reported as A Navy Blimp is Expected to Help the Clean up Oil Spill Process :

The clean up oil spills process continues in the 77th day with a new technology. An enormous navy blimp MZ-3A Airship slowly made its way from Yuma, Arizona and is expected to arrive today in the Gulf Coast at Jack Edwards National Airport, to help clean up the disastrous oil spill, according to a press release from Deepwater Horizon Response External Affairs. The Coast Guard requested the support of the 178-foot-long U.S. Navy airship to detect oil, assist in coordinating skimming efforts and to monitor any threat to marine mammals and other wildlife that may be in distress.

The advantage that the blimp has over the helicopters is that, it can stay aloft continuously for 12 hours while monitoring a large swath of territory at low speed, and would also far more economical than the helicopters, according to the US Navy. The problem is that the blimp can’t go up in rough weather and that could mean significant no-fly periods for the MZ-3A Airship.

OK, cool.

Photo: Navy Hand Out File Photo (Undated) of the MZ-3A manned airship, Advanced Airship Flying Laboratory, derived from the commercial A-170 series blimp. The Navy airship is a high endurance low fuel alternative to fixed wing or rotary aircraft. providing extreme utility in airborne patrol missions where endurance and communications capabilities are required. (U.S. Navy/Released)

Gulf Oil Mess: Huge Skimmer Gets Test Run

Earlier report here.

Giant oil skimmer being tested in Gulf of Mexico :

The Coast Guard says testing will take 48 hours.

Officials want to verify the ship can make good on its promise of sucking up as much as 21 million gallons of oil-fouled water per day.

Gulf Oil Mess: Huge Skimmer Standing By for Approval

Reported as Giant skimmer waits for GoM go ahead:

As of this morning (1 July 10) Nobu Su's giant skimmer, the converted 319,869 dwt ore/oil carrier A Whale, was in the Venice, La. area awaiting word on whether the Coast Guard and EPA would allow it to go to work on the Deepwater Horizon spill.

It may work, but we won't know until it's tried.



Hat tip to Lee.

An Explanation of the Jones Act

Dennis L. Bryant of Bryant’s Maritime Consulting and Bryant’s Maritime Blog was recently interviewed about the Jones Act and its impact on the Deep Horizon Oil Accident, which interview is available at this post about which Mr. Bryant writes:

The interview took over 20 minutes and the radio broadcast condensed that down to about two minutes, so numerous details relating to cabotage have been glossed over or omitted.

A portion of the interview:

Some lawmakers say they’ve heard the Jones Act is stopping foreign oil skimmers from helping with the oil spill cleanup. But Bryant says the law probably isn’t to blame. "The impediment, if there is one, has been that there hasn’t been a valid offer for a foreign response vessel," he notes.

Bryant adds that many foreign oil skimmers may not be willing or able to leave their current jobs yet to help with the spill cleanup. "The vessels over there are probably gainfully employed doing other things, and they would then have to get them out of whatever contract they’re under now," says Bryant. "The amount of oil spill response vessels in the world is not that great."

Bryant also points out that, since the strictest provisions of the Jones Act only apply within 3 miles of the US coast, it’s easier for foreign ships to help with cleanup operations farther out in the Gulf, near the Deepwater Horizon well itself.

You can listen to the report here.


Map from NOAA.