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Macondo Well-Deepwater Horizon Blowout: Lessons for Offshore Drilling Safety

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Follow up to previous postings on the Deepwater Horizon Spill, via National Academies Press – Macondo Well-Deepwater Horizon Blowout: Lessons for Offshore Drilling Safety

  • “This report examines the causes of the blowout of the Macondo well that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010 and provides a series of recommendations, for both the oil and gas industry and government regulators, intended to reduce the likelihood and impact of any future losses of well control during offshore drilling…The areas of expertise of the 15 members spanned geophysics, petroleum engineering, marine systems, accident investigations, safety systems, risk analysis, human factors, and organizational behavior. This breadth of expertise enabled the committee to address both the immediate and the root causes of the various failures that led to the loss of well control and to provide a unique perspective that should complement those provided by other investigative efforts. Offshore drilling, especially in deep water, is an inherently hazardous activity. Construction of deepwater wells like Macondo is a complex process. Sophisticated equipment is used, such as the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which must operate in a highly coordinated manner in areas of uncertain geology, often under challenging environmental conditions, and subject to failures from a variety of sources including those induced by human and organizational errors. The industry has developed an impressive set of technologies to enable the construction of such wells, and it appears that viable solutions were available to address the various challenges posed by Macondo. However, the selection and application of suitable technologies will always be subject to the vagaries of the human decision-making processes, as it was in April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. The committee believes that material improvements to the management and safety systems used by the companies engaged in offshore oil development, along with enhancements to the regulatory regime can and should be made, and that such efforts will materially improve all aspects of safety offshore.”
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