The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill - Essay ExampleSystems to hail construction project risk.5 a. Technology5 b. People6 c. Planning.6 IV. Catastrophic failure dishonor tree7 V. Discussion of fault tree..7 a. Reduce risks...8 b. Mitigate risks..8 c. Avoid risks.9 VI. Conclusion..9 VII. Appendix ..10 VIII. References..11 Introduction The Deepwater Horizon disaster was triggered by failure of the sea-bed petroleum gusher to control the flow of oil following the 20th April 2010 blowout of the oil drilling rig. The incident, blamed on failure of the rig owner to rein in the warning signs and put in place adequate risk prevention and management programs, killed almost a dozen crew members and injured several others. The development then resulted in a massive leakage of oil into the sea, resulting in an unfathomable environmental disaster in the Gulf Sea. The catastrophic failure of the BP Oil drilling rig was more often than not the most dangerous ever in the history of offshore oil drilli ng projects. Sources of construction project risk a. Timeline On January 30th 2010, the Deepwater Horizon transferred its equipment to about(predicate) 45 miles off the Louisiana coast in order to begin oil drilling operations at the Macondo well (Owens, 2012). In early April, an perspicacity was carried out to ascertain rigs condition after Transocean Ltd., the chief operator the facility saw it wise to do so. On April 15, a cement job expert at the well-site travelled abroad to attend a conference on rig management techniques (Balaguer, 2010). A Halliburtons employee specialized in designing cement job for plugging the well against spills, advised BP that the site needed 21 stabilizers to position the drill pipe at the centre, but BP superiors overruled his decision and direct the work to continue with only six centralizers in place. On April 18, Halliburton carried out a vital test on the cement that was set for use, but denied BP roughly of the results. Meanwhile the company advised BP that the well was at risk of leaks if the work proceeded with fewer than the earlier recommended 21 centralizers. On April 19, the drilling work was completed to the coveted depths. This paved way for installation of the casing and pumping of the cement to stabilize the rig. Whereas, the work was behind schedule by more than a month, finishing touches were done on 20th April. However, the well immediately failed, and triggered a blowout (Owens, 2012). b. Costs Transocean through Triton Asset Leasing Company was managing the rig. However, BP entered into a contract to use the rig for ternion years off the Louisiana coast. The contract was valued at $544 million, for the equipment only, with employees, supporting gear and other vessels costing