The Deepwater Horizon Drilling Platforms - 1651 Words

Over one hundred million gallons of crude oil saturated the Gulf of Mexico after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling prospect on April 10th, 2010. The explosion killed eleven people, resulting in one the worst local oil spills in U.S. history. For the next eighty seven days, sunken barrels continued to release oil into the Atlantic Ocean. The oil spread from the coast of Louisiana to about one hundred and forty miles into the gulf. The U.S. is trying to reduce the use of foreign oil by drilling within its own borders. As a result, the country is responsible for a large scale cleanup of the Atlantic Ocean. Demand for oil in the United States continues to rise, as petroleum oil is used to produce electricity, heating, and fuel†¦show more content†¦Shock waves can be created using explosives, thumper trucks, or compressed air guns. The returning waves are measured by hydrophones that can record the waves underwater. Results are then analyzed for signs of oil. Promis ing signs of oil traps are marked on a map. Once oil has been located, drilling wells are constructed around the oil deposit. When the well is complete, extraction begins. Acid is pumped into the wells and out the perforators, which are vein-like channels that branch into the layers of rock. The acid dissolves the limestone, then oil flows through the perforators and into the well. If there is sandstone surrounding the oil instead of limestone, a fluid containing proppants (sand particles) is pumped through the perforators. This fluid creates pressure that fractures the sandstone and allows oil to flow into the well without the perforator closing back up. Sometimes, the oil is too heavy to flow into the well. Hot steam is introduced to the perforators to thin the oil, and create more pressure to push the oil through the perforator. This process is called enhanced oil recovery (Freudenrich, Strickland, n.d.). Offshore oil drilling is very risky, because if an oil well is leaks, thous ands of gallons of oil will flood the surrounding water. Oil spills are notorious environmental hazards. Spills are costly to clean up, and they impact hundreds ofShow MoreRelatedOffshore Oil Drilling and the Deepwater Horizon Spill of the Gulf of Mexico1591 Words   |  7 Pagesfossil fuel, oil drilling is used. Land-based oil drilling became less productive and as the global stipulation for energy increased, technology, law, and geology impacts stepped in and pushed the exploration of oil away from shores (CITE). With its historical background, offshore oil drilling is one of the most important aspects of today’s economy although we are faced with its risks and consequences, such as the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion of the Gulf of Mexico. Offshore oil drilling is known asRead More The Oil Spill is Affecting Animals, but What About the Government?1204 Words   |  5 Pagesdistances to reach markets throughout the world. With seemingly increasing frequency, these journeys sometimes end in accidents that result in oil being spilled into the ocean. The most devastating oil spill, The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, occurred on April twentieth of this year. Deepwater Horizon is an oilrig located in the Gulf of Mexico and it is owned by B.P. Everything seemed to be running efficiently on the rig until April twentieth, when methane gas leaked through the rig. The gas was under highRead MoreThe Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill2022 Words   |  9 PagesDeepwater Horizon Oil Spill The Context Before the occurrence of the Deepwater Horizon event, BP had already been labelled as having a horrible safety record. A 2009 report by the United States Department of Labour Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Todd Petterson , 2009), indicated that BP had 270 existing fines of a ‘failure to abate’ and 439 ‘wilful violations’ of various safety protocols. At the time of the disaster the regulators of the oil industry in the United States was theRead MoreThe Bp Deepwater Horizon Disaster1006 Words   |  5 Pagesimplementing the necessary controls in place to ensure compliance to them. The BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster On April 20, 2010, the British Petroleum (BP) leased Deepwater Horizon drilling rig took an unexpected kick of gas pressure from an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. The release ignited, and through the failure of the blowout preventers progressed into a firestorm. The fire consumed the drilling rig platform, sinking it, causing 11 casualties, and the subsequent release of 4.9 million barrelsRead MoreOil And Gas Reservoir And Traps1706 Words   |  7 Pagesstrata. [8] The Gulf of Mexico is one of the largest salt domes oil reservoir area in the world, where over 500 salt domes have been discovered so far both onshore and under the seafloor. In 1900, the first salt dome oil reservoir was discovered by drilling a exploratory well on Spindletop Hill near Beaumont, Texas [9], and one year later, the well was completely built and constructed. With the depth about 1000 feet below the ground, a pressurized oil reservoir produced over 100,000 barrels of crudeRead MoreDeepwater Horizon Was An Offshore Drilling Rig966 Words   |  4 PagesDeepwater Horizon was an offshore drilling rig built in 2001 in South Korea by Hyundai Heavy Industries. In September 2009, the rig drilled the deepest oil well in history with a vertical depth of 35,050 feet. An unplanned flow of well fluids into the wellbore can be dangerous as it could cause a blowout which would then cause a fire. In order to prevent this, driller’s pump a drilling mud into the well, creating a barrier between the undersea oil and gas and the rig. The safety of the drillingRead MoreEconomic Concerns Of Deepwater Completions And Workover Essay1444 Words   |  6 PagesEconomic Concerns of Deepwater Completions and Workover. Benefits: Offshore completions and workover have some environmental benefits specially during the development phase. It offers less time over the hole, needs fewer resources, requires less capital equipment to develop a field. Subsea completions also is often associated with continuing availability during the production and disposal of equipment such as platforms, manifolds etc. Risks: Introduction: The environmental risks associated with offshoreRead MorePollution : Why Is It Important?1288 Words   |  6 PagesOffshore drilling and production operations and spills from ships or tankers typically contribute less than 8 percent of the total that enter the ocean each year. The majority of the oil entering the ocean comes from routine maintenance of ships at 20 percent, hydrocarbon particles from onshore air pollution is about 13 percent, and natural seepage from the seafloor is a little over 8 percent. Of the approximately 706 million gallons of oil that enter the ocean each year, offshore drilling operationsRead MoreBp Csr3693 Words   |  15 PagesStrategic Corporate Social Responsibilities and Law Contents BP Company Info 3 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Event 4 Summary of the Deepwater Horizon Event 5 Stock price before and after Deepwater Horizon 7 Impact on Stakeholders 8 BP’s Oil Spills and Corporate Social Responsibility 9 Inadequate disclosure on the oil spill event 11 Recommendations for BP to get reputation back 13 Conclusion 14 BP Company Info BP is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, UnitedRead MoreIp Essay1198 Words   |  5 PagesExperimental Investigation of Gas Kick Effects on Dynamic Drilling Parameters Introduction Early kick detection (EKD) is a vital component of well control system. The prevention or management of kicks and/or fluid loss occurrence during drilling operations is crucial, particularly in deepwater drilling activities due to the complexity of equipment and operations. Normally well control failure occurrences could cost the oil and gas industry billions of dollars in a year due to non-productive time