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2 Offshore Oil and Gas Operations and Safety
Pages 31-58

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From page 31...
... . Over this same period, total natural gas production on the OCS declined in all three regions by more than half, from 2.5 trillion cubic feet to just more than 1 trillion cubic feet.
From page 32...
... Year Alaska Pacific Gulf OCS Totala Productionc 2009 29,609 41,282 2,451,076 2,521,968 21,647,936 2010 29,659 41,251 2,250,426 2,321,325 22,381,873 2011 37,801 36,591 1,826,593 1,900,969 24,036,352 2012 21,960 27,263 1,535,897 1,585,120 25,283,278 2013 29,293 27,505 1,328,279 1,385,038 25,562,232 2014 31,264 28,313 1,276,676 1,336,186 27,497,754 2015 32,249 14,808 1,307,390 1,354,374 28,772,044 2016 31,705 4,501 1,220,854 1,257,061 28,400,049 2017 29,056 3,949 1,078,719 1,085,235 29,237,825 2018 3,211 3,428 993,098 999,737 33,008,867 2019d 2,749 2,876 1,034,174 1,039,798 36,515,188 NOTES: MCF = 1,000,000 cubic feet; OCS = Outer Continental Shelf. Data as of December 31, 2020.
From page 33...
... Additionally, about half of all operators hold leases that are not actively producing oil and gas. Figure 2-1 shows how the number of operators who are actively producing oil or gas has declined over the past decade, so that by late 2020 only 49 operators had active leases with production.
From page 34...
... The two major phases of offshore oil and gas operations are drilling and production, each having its own specialized contractors and workforces. As 2  Data provided at https://www.bsee.gov/sites/bsee.gov/files/performance-datatable-2010-2019-12-16-2020.pdf.
From page 35...
... . Most rigs used for drilling deepwater wells on the OCS are mobile offshore drilling units (MODUs)
From page 36...
... for their specific application,4 sometimes with the operators coordinating with the drilling contractors during design and construction to incorporate technical advancements. As a result, rigs that specialize in deepwater drilling can have significant variations in design, instrumentation, controls, and capabilities, requiring specially trained and knowledgeable operating personnel (TRB 2016b)
From page 37...
... total 11 10 26 47 63 65 61 47 46 24 10 Deepwater ≥500 feet 2 2 2 6 10 9 17 12 10 5 4 Shallow water <500 feet 9 8 24 41 53 56 44 35 36 19 6 NOTES: OCS = Outer Continental Shelf. Discrepancies in the tables due to inconsistencies in the raw data, such as missing or incorrect entries.
From page 38...
... Such platforms will have facilities to receive vessels such as supply vessels, anchor-handling tugs, diving support boats, and pipe-laying ships, along with helipads for the air transport of crews and supplies. FIGURE 2-4  Example of a deepwater production and subsea development.
From page 39...
... With the industry movement to deeper water and the increase in well-depth production volumes, installations have tended to become larger and more complex, necessitating even more specialization among companies supplying the needed technologies and services. Although they consist of less than 5 percent of all production platforms, deepwater platforms produce 90 percent of all oil on the GOM OCS (see Table 2-2)
From page 40...
... . The following discussion of the drilling operations reviews several categories of systems common to most drilling rigs, such as power, hoisting, rotating, circulating, and well control.
From page 41...
... OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS AND SAFETY 41 Rotating System The rotating system includes the equipment necessary to rotate the drill bit at the bottom of the wellbore. This equipment consists of the entire drill string and rotary table system on the deck that surrounds the drill string, the downhole motors, and the bit at the bottom of the drill hole.
From page 42...
... . The fluids produced from the well use equipment such as control valves, pressure vessels, manifolds, pumps, mechanical devices, heating systems, gas compressors, power generators, instrumentation, electrical, and lifting components, all of which involve potential safety hazards.
From page 43...
... OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS AND SAFETY 43 Separation Systems As part of these systems, pressure vessels and/or tanks are commonly used to separate the different parts of the well fluids such as oil, gas, condensates, water, and other residues and sediment. Most separators include multiple vessels or tanks of adequate capacity that operate at different pressures or temperatures during the various stages and allow the controlled separation of the different fluid and gas components.
From page 44...
... The many guidelines, standards, and recommended practices -- often mandated by regulations -- dictate the necessary equipment and safety devices incorporated.8 The next section describes industry changes in safety processes that have occurred over the past 30 years. INDUSTRY HISTORY AND APPROACHES TO OFFSHORE SAFETY While advances in technology have allowed the industry to develop oil and gas fields in deeper waters farther from the shore, this move has exposed the need for the industry to better manage the risks of the human technology interaction.
From page 45...
... The April 2010 loss of well control by the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig led to major changes in the U.S. regulatory regime as well as to reassessments of regimes worldwide.10 Earlier disasters, such as the 1988 explosion of the Piper Alpha platform in the UK sector of the North Sea that killed 167 and the 1980 capsizing of the Alexander L
From page 46...
... Over the past decade, deepwater has more often been defined as water depths greater than 1,000 feet. The historical definition is used here to maintain consistency with other available statistical data.
From page 47...
... Many reports produced over the past 30 years indicated that accidents were more attributable to human error stemming from inadequate worker training and supervision, an automatic reliance on regulations, or overall poor operating practices and less to do with technological/equipment problems and noncompliance with industry standards. Accordingly, the industry realized that achieving advances in safety required an improved safety culture and a safety management system with a commitment to improved worker training and increased supervision and oversight of work sites.
From page 48...
... 2018c 2019 Incident Types Lifting 185 91 105 143 165 177 138 110 97 26 111 169 Fires 144 130 106 141 109 121 92 82 71 15 77 84 Explosions 2 4 1 2 1 4 2 0 2 1 3 4 Musters 43 22 31 41 63 49 69 52 71 24 82 87 Gas Releases 26 16 16 18 22 10 14 18 9 1 19 20 Collisions 27 8 11 9 18 12 11 6 13 3 6 10 Loss of Well Control 3 2 5 4 9 4 3 1 0 0 1 2 Incident Consequences Fatalitiesd 4 12 3 4 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 Injuries 239 220 249 282 310 280 290 174 154 37 171 222 Numbere of Oil 51 28 10 33 24 21 25 19 10 4 19 14 Spills >1 bbl Total Volume of Oil 1,970 4,928,371 182 634 42 258 586 2,162 16,198 -- 38 46 Spills >1 bbl NOTES: bbl = barrel of oil; OCS = Outer Continental Shelf. Data for 2009–2017 reported by fiscal year (FY)
From page 49...
... 75, Recommended Practices for Development of a Safety and Environmental Management Program for Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Operations and Facilities, and API RP 14J, Recommended Practice for Design and Hazards Analysis for Offshore Production Facilities -- a companion hazard analysis document.
From page 50...
... A major challenge for deepwater projects included the need for larger and more advanced equipment and technology to support and monitor conditions at such depths in order to operate and manipulate equipment remotely on the seafloor. This also included a need for blowout preventers capable of containing higher pressures operating at deeper water depths, where reservoir and environmental conditions are more demanding.
From page 51...
... of total recordable and DART incidents for combined operations, 2008–2019, as reported via BSEE Form 0131. NOTES: BSEE = Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement; DART = days away, restricted, and transfer; OCS = Outer Continental Shelf.
From page 52...
... The goal of the joint industry task force projects was to evaluate and revise industry guidelines and procedures and identify best practices in offshore drilling operations and oil spill response. Since the 2010 event, API has published more than 200 new or revised standards and recommended practices for offshore drilling exploration and production operations.15 Center for Offshore Safety An additional response to the Deepwater Horizon event was the creation of the Center for Offshore Safety (COS)
From page 53...
... The organization's containment system and services are available to any operator in the GOM that is a member, or once a nonmember company enters into an agreement designating MWCC as their well containment response provider when filing its drilling permit application with BSEE. In addition to MWCC, a consortium of GOM deepwater operators and non-operators have come together as the Helix Well Containment Group (HWCG)
From page 54...
... With oil market volatility and the high costs and technological demands of developing, designing, building, and managing custom drilling rigs and platforms in deeper water, operators and contractors sought ways to increase efficiency and reduce costs to stay competitive.21 Companies (operators and contractors) commonly introduce newer technologies and development concepts as part of their regular business plans, and lower oil prices made this goal even more important.
From page 55...
... reports that it conducted more than 4,000 remote surveys for the oil and gas industry, providing a safer and more efficient option for inspections of certain equipment or components.23 SUMMARY The oil and gas industry has operated offshore for decades. The number of operators on the OCS has grown since 1980, reflecting a larger number of smaller, independent companies.
From page 56...
... Chief Counsel's Report, National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. Devold, H
From page 57...
... 2012. Macondo Well Deepwater Horizon Blowout: Lessons for Improving Offshore Drilling Safety.


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