Transocean Deepwater Horizon – Final Report

 Accident, Accident report, explosion, fire, offshore  Comments Off on Transocean Deepwater Horizon – Final Report
Feb 202011
 

Poor management decisions and questionable relationships lead to the Transocean Deepwater Horizon fire and explosion in which 11 died, says the Presidential National Oil Spill Commission which has has released details of the series of engineering and management mistakes by those responsible for the drilling operations, including BP, Halliburton, and Transocean.

On January 11th, the Commission released its final report to the President, Deep Water: The Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling, which included a chapter on the well blowout and rig explosion. That chapter summarized the results of the investigation by the Commission’s Chief Counsel, Fred Bartlit, and his investigative team into the causes of the Macondo well blow out and Deepwater Horizon rig explosion. Fred Bartlit is widely regarded as one of America’s leading trial lawyers, while he also worked with dui lawyers specialist from a site that you can navigate here. He played a major role in investigating the Piper Alpha North Sea Oil Platform disaster in 1989.

Says the commission: “The Chief Counsel is issuing this additional report to provide the American public, policymakers, and industry with the fullest possible account of the investigation into the causes of the well blowout which was summarized in the Commission’s report. The Chief Counsel’s investigative team unearthed and analyzed far more information than could have been included in the Commission’s report”. Continue reading »

No Surprises In Transocean Deepwater Report

 Accident, Accident report, explosion, fatality, fire, offshore  Comments Off on No Surprises In Transocean Deepwater Report
Jan 052011
 

There will be no surprises when the US Presidential National Oil Spill Commission releases its report into the tragedy of the Transocean Deepwater Horizon in April 2010. An advanced copy of the report shows that management, communications and systemic issues across threes or more companies caused the incident.

An independent investigation is being conducted by the Chemical Safety Board.

BBC News quotes a BP statement that the company is working with regulators “to ensure the lessons learned from Macondo lead to improvements in operations and contractor services in deepwater drilling”

Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon says that it bears no responsibility for the incident.

The  today is releasing in advance the chapter from its upcoming full report that contains the key findings from its extensive investigation into the causes of the blowout of BP’s Macondo well.
On April 20, 2010, that disaster killed 11 workers, seriously injured many others, and spewed uncontrolled over four million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico for nearly three months, creating the largest oil spill ever in American waters.

Among the findings from the chapter:
“The well blew out because a number of separate risk factors, oversights, and outright mistakes combined to overwhelm the safeguards meant to prevent just such an event from happening. But most of the mistakes and oversights at Macondo can be traced back to a single overarching failure—a failure of management. Better management by BP, Halliburton, and Transocean would almost certainly have prevented the blowout by improving the ability of individuals involved to identify the risks they faced, and to properly evaluate, communicate, and address them.” Continue reading »