Design problems with a blowout prevention system contributed to the 2010
Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster, and the same equipment is still
commonly used in drilling four years after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill,
according to a report issued by the federal Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
The board concluded that the "blowout preventer" — a five-story-tall series of seals and valves that was supposed to shear the drill pipe and short-circuit the explosion — failed for reasons the oil industry did not anticipate and has not fully corrected.
Despite improved regulation of deep-water drilling since the disaster, the board found that problems persist in oil and gas companies' offshore safety systems.
"This results in potential safety gaps in U.S. offshore operations and leaves open the possibility of another similar catastrophic accident," said Cheryl MacKenzie, lead investigator of the safety board inquiry.
The blowout of BP's Macondo well in April 2010 killed 11 men and spewed nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, making it the worst offshore oil disaster in United States history. Several federal commissions have investigated the missteps that occurred on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the days and hours leading up to the explosion, which investigators said had its roots in corporate mismanagement and inadequate government oversight of the oil industry.
Read more: Flawed drilling gear still in use after BP oil spill, board says - Los Angeles Times
The board concluded that the "blowout preventer" — a five-story-tall series of seals and valves that was supposed to shear the drill pipe and short-circuit the explosion — failed for reasons the oil industry did not anticipate and has not fully corrected.
Despite improved regulation of deep-water drilling since the disaster, the board found that problems persist in oil and gas companies' offshore safety systems.
"This results in potential safety gaps in U.S. offshore operations and leaves open the possibility of another similar catastrophic accident," said Cheryl MacKenzie, lead investigator of the safety board inquiry.
The blowout of BP's Macondo well in April 2010 killed 11 men and spewed nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, making it the worst offshore oil disaster in United States history. Several federal commissions have investigated the missteps that occurred on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the days and hours leading up to the explosion, which investigators said had its roots in corporate mismanagement and inadequate government oversight of the oil industry.
Read more: Flawed drilling gear still in use after BP oil spill, board says - Los Angeles Times
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