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''Deepwater Horizon'' was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible
offshore drilling Offshore drilling is a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled below the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently extract petroleum that lies in rock formations beneath the seabed. Most commonly, the t ...
rig owned by Transocean and operated by BP. On 20 April 2010, while drilling at the Macondo Prospect, a
blowout Blowout or Blow out may refer to: Film and television *''Blow Out'', a 1981 film by Brian De Palma * ''The Blow Out'', a 1936 short film * ''Blow Out'' (TV series), a TV series on Bravo * "Blow Out" (''Prison Break''), an episode of ''Prison ...
caused an explosion on the rig that killed 11 crewmen and ignited a fireball visible from away. The fire was inextinguishable and, two days later, on 22 April, the ''Horizon'' sank, leaving the well gushing at the
seabed The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most o ...
and causing the largest marine oil spill in history. Built in 2001 in
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
by
Hyundai Heavy Industries Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI; ) is the world's largest shipbuilding company and a major heavy equipment manufacturer. Its headquarters are in Ulsan, South Korea. History HHI was founded in 1972 by Chung Ju-yung as a division of th ...
, the rig was commissioned by R&B Falcon (a later asset of Transocean), date of publication verifiable on http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-69685498.html registered in Majuro, and leased to BP from 2001 until September 2013. In September 2009, the rig drilled the deepest
oil well An oil well is a drillhole boring in Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the surface. Usually some natural gas is released as associated petroleum gas along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce only gas ma ...
in history at a vertical depth of and measured depth of in the
Tiber Oil Field The Tiber Oil Field is a deepwater offshore oil field located in the Keathley Canyon block 102 of the United States sector of the Gulf of Mexico. The deepwater field (defined as water depth ,) was discovered in September 2009 and it is operat ...
at
Keathley Canyon Keathley Canyon is an undersea canyon in the United States Exclusive Economic Zone in the Gulf of Mexico. The canyon is named for the hydrographic survey ship USNS ''Sergeant George D. Keathley'' (T-AGS-35). The Canyon is rich in oil fields ...
block 102, approximately southeast of
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...
, in of water.


Design

''Deepwater Horizon'' was a fifth-generation, RBS-8D design (i.e. model type), deepwater, dynamically positioned, column-stabilized, semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit, designed to drill subsea wells for oil exploration and production using an ,
blowout preventer A blowout preventer (BOP) (pronounced B-O-P, not "bop") is a specialized valve or similar mechanical device, used to seal, control and monitor oil and gas wells to prevent blowouts, the uncontrolled release of crude oil or natural gas from a w ...
, and a outside diameter
marine riser Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military ...
. ''Deepwater Horizon'' was the second semi-submersible rig constructed of a class of two, although '' Deepwater Nautilus'', its predecessor, is not dynamically positioned. The rig was and capable of operating in waters up to deep, to a maximum drill depth of . In 2010 it was one of approximately 200 deepwater offshore rigs capable of drilling in waters deeper than . Its
American Bureau of Shipping American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...
(ABS) class notations were "A1, Column Stabilized Drilling Unit, AMS, ACCU, DPS-3". In 2002, the rig was upgraded with "e-drill", a drill monitoring system whereby technical personnel based in
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...
, Texas, received
real-time Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...
drilling data from the rig and transmitted maintenance and troubleshooting information. Advanced systems played a key role in the rig's operation, from pressure and drill monitoring technology, to automated shutoff systems and modelling systems for cementing. The OptiCem cement modelling system, used by
Halliburton Halliburton Company is an American multinational corporation responsible for most of the world's hydraulic fracturing operations. In 2009, it was the world's second largest oil field service company. It has operations in more than 70 countries ...
in April 2010, played a crucial part in cement slurry mix and support decisions. These decisions became a focus for investigations into the explosion on the rig that month.


History


Construction and ownership

''Deepwater Horizon'' was built for R&B Falcon (which later became part of Transocean) – date of publication verifiable o

/ref> by
Hyundai Heavy Industries Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI; ) is the world's largest shipbuilding company and a major heavy equipment manufacturer. Its headquarters are in Ulsan, South Korea. History HHI was founded in 1972 by Chung Ju-yung as a division of th ...
in
Ulsan Ulsan (), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighboring ...
, South Korea. Construction started in December 1998, the
keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...
was laid on 21 March 2000, and the rig was delivered on 23 February 2001, after the acquisition of R&B Falcon by Transocean. Until 29 December 2004 the rig was registered in the Republic of Panama. Transocean, through its Steinhausen, Switzerland subsidiary Triton Asset Leasing GmbH, operated the rig under the Marshallese flag of convenience. The rig was leased to BP on a 3-year contract for deployment in the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
following construction. The lease was renewed in 2004 for a year, 2005 for 5 years, and 2009 for 3 years covering 2010 to 2013. The last contract was worth $544 million, or $496,800 a day, for a "bare rig", with crew, gear and support vessels estimated to cost the same. According to R&B Falcon's filings to SEC in 2001, the transfer document between R&B Falcon and Transocean was dated 17 August 2001, and the rig was specified as "official registration number of 29273-PEXT-1, IMO number of 8764597, with gross tonnage of 32,588 and net tonnage of 9,778" and the transfer value as . , the rig was insured for covering the replacement cost and wreckage removal.


Drilling operations

''Deepwater Horizon'' worked on wells in the
Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and '' Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that b ...
(BP 56%, BHP 44%) and Thunder Horse (BP 75%,
ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 3 ...
25%)
oil field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presen ...
s. It was described at times as a "lucky" and "celebrated" rig, and in 2007 was still described as "one of the most powerful rigs in the world". In 2006 it discovered oil in the
Kaskida oil field The Kaskida Oil Field is an offshore oil field located in the Keathley Canyon block 292 of the United States sector of the Gulf of Mexico, south-west of New Orleans, Louisiana. The field is operated by BP, and owned by BP (100%). History ...
, and in 2009 the "giant"
Tiber oil field The Tiber Oil Field is a deepwater offshore oil field located in the Keathley Canyon block 102 of the United States sector of the Gulf of Mexico. The deepwater field (defined as water depth ,) was discovered in September 2009 and it is operat ...
. The well in the Tiber field had a true vertical depth of and a measured depth of , below of water. The well was the deepest oil well in the world, and more than farther below the seabed than the rig's official drilling specification stated on the company's fleet list. In February 2010, ''Deepwater Horizon'' commenced drilling an exploratory well at the Macondo Prospect (
Mississippi Canyon The Mississippi Canyon is an undersea canyon, part of the Mississippi Submarine Valley in the North-central Gulf of Mexico, south of Louisiana. According to the U.S. Geological Survey GLORIA Mapping Program, it is the dominant feature of the no ...
Block 252), about off the southeast coast of
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...
, at a water depth of approximately . The Macondo prospect exploration rights had been acquired by BP in 2009, with the prospect jointly owned by BP (65%), Anadarko Petroleum (25%) and MOEX Offshore 2007 (10%). ''Deepwater Horizon'' was still working on the Macondo site on 20 April 2010, when a violent explosion occurred leading to destruction of the rig and the subsequent oil spill. This oil spill has been recorded as the largest offshore spill to occur to date, resulting in of coastal pollution. The well was in the final stages of completion after cement had been emplaced for its last casing string. The exploratory work had been described as "concluded" with permission already having been requested from MMS to terminate operations at the Macondo site. The rig was scheduled to move to its next roles as semi-permanent production platforms, initially at the Tiber site followed by a return to the Kaskida field, an oil dome 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana. During its operational lifetime, the rig was actively in operation for 93% of its working life (2,896 of 3,131 days). The remainder partly was time spent moving between sites.


Regulation, safety, and inspection

The
Minerals Management Service The Minerals Management Service (MMS) was an agency of the United States Department of the Interior that managed the nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf (OCS). Due to perceived conflict of inter ...
(renamed on 18 June 2010 to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or Bureau of Ocean Energy (BOE)) is the regulatory and inspecting body for offshore oil drilling and rigs in the
United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
. According to an ''
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...
'' investigation, certain safety documentation and emergency procedure information, including documentation for the exact incident that later occurred, was absent. The exact number of required monthly inspections performed varied over time; the inspections were carried out as required for the first 40 months, but after that around 25% of inspections were omitted, although the investigation notes this is partly expected, since there are circumstances such as weather and movement which preclude an inspection. Reports of the last three inspections for 2010 were provided under
Freedom of Information legislation Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatisf ...
. Each of these inspections had taken two hours or less. During its lifetime the rig received 5 citations for non-compliance, 4 of which were in 2002 (safety, including the blowout preventer) and the other in 2003 (pollution). A sixth citation in 2007 related to non- grounded electrical equipment was later withdrawn when the equipment was determined to be compliant with regulations. Overall the ''Deepwater Horizon'' safety record was "strong" according to a drilling consultant reviewing the information. In 2009 the Minerals Management Service "herald dthe Deepwater Horizon as an industry model for safety". According to AP's investigation "its record was so exemplary, according to MMS officials, that the rig was never on inspectors' informal 'watch list' for problem rigs".


Explosion and oil spill

At CDT on 20 April 2010, during the final phases of drilling the exploratory well off the gulf of Mexico, a geyser of seawater erupted from the
marine riser Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military ...
onto the rig, shooting 70 m into the air. This was soon followed by the eruption of a slushy combination of
drilling mud In geotechnical engineering, drilling fluid, also called drilling mud, is used to aid the drilling of boreholes into the earth. Often used while drilling oil and natural gas wells and on exploration drilling rigs, drilling fluids are als ...
, methane gas, and water. The gas component of the slushy material quickly transitioned into a fully gaseous state and then ignited into a series of explosions and then a firestorm. An attempt was made to activate the
blowout preventer A blowout preventer (BOP) (pronounced B-O-P, not "bop") is a specialized valve or similar mechanical device, used to seal, control and monitor oil and gas wells to prevent blowouts, the uncontrolled release of crude oil or natural gas from a w ...
, but it failed. The final defense to prevent an oil spill, a device known as a blind shear ram, was activated but failed to plug the well. Ten workers were presumed killed in the initial explosion: Karl Kleppinger Jr., 38, Natchez, Mississippi; Dewey Revette, 48, of State Line, Mississippi; Shane Roshto, 22, Liberty, Mississippi; Donald Clark, 49, of Newellton, Louisiana; Stephen Ray Curtis, 40, of Georgetown, Louisiana; Gordon Jones, 28, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Roy Wyatt Kemp, 27, Jonesville, Louisiana; Keith Blair Manuel, 56, of Gonzales, Louisiana; Adam Weise, 24, Yorktown, Texas; Jason Anderson, 35, of Midfield, Texas. An eleventh was crane operator Aaron Dale Burkeen, 37, Philadelphia, Mississippi, who died in the subsequent fire. The rig was evacuated, with injured workers airlifted to medical facilities. After approximately 36 hours, ''Deepwater Horizon'' sank on 22 April 2010. The remains of the rig were located resting on the seafloor approximately 1,500 m deep at that location, and about 400 m northwest of the well. The resultant oil spill continued until 15 July when it was closed by a cap. Relief wells were used to permanently seal the well, which was declared "effectively dead" on 19 September 2010. NOAA established the Gulf Spill Restoration project, under the Deep Water Horizon National Resource Damage Assessment Trustees, to help to restore much of the coastline.


Aftermath

Transocean received an early partial insurance settlement for total loss of the ''Deepwater Horizon'' of around 5 May 2010.
Financial analyst A financial analyst is a professional, undertaking financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core feature of the job. The role may specifically be titled securities analyst, research analyst, equity analyst, investment analyst, ...
s noted that the insurance recovery was likely to outweigh the value of the rig (although not necessarily its replacement value) and any liabilities the latter estimated at up to . Litigation, ultimate roll call of damage, and the scope of final insurance recovery were all unknown , with analysts reporting that the aftermath was of unprecedented scale and complexity compared to previous disasters which themselves took many years to unfold and resolve. A July 2010 analysis by the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' on the aftermath cited legal sources as saying that "at some point the scale of the litigation becomes so large that it really is novel", that "the situation is likely to be complicated further because the variety of probable cases means it will be hard to aggregate them into so-called
class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...
s" and that there was "no way to put this in historical context because we have never faced anything like this before". As with the Exxon Valdez disaster, litigation was being discussed in terms of a 20-year timescale. In January 2013, Transocean agreed to pay US$1.4 billion for violations of the US Clean Water Act. BP had earlier agreed to pay $2.4 billion but faced additional penalties that could range from $5 billion to $20 billion. In September 2014, Halliburton agreed to settle a large percentage of legal claims against them by paying $1.1 billion into a trust by way of three installments over two years. On 4 September 2014, U.S. District Judge
Carl Barbier Carl Joseph Barbier (born August 21, 1944) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Education and career Born in 1944 in New Orleans, Louisiana, Barbier attended West ...
ruled BP was guilty of gross negligence and willful misconduct under the Clean Water Act (CWA). He described BP's actions as "reckless," while he said Transocean's and Halliburton's actions were "negligent." He apportioned 67% of the blame for the spill to BP, 30% to Transocean, and 3% to Halliburton. BP issued a statement strongly disagreeing with the finding, and saying the court's decision would be appealed. On 8 December 2014, The US Supreme Court rejected BP's legal challenge to a compensation deal over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The settlement agreement had no cap, but BP initially estimated that it would pay roughly $7.8bn (£6.1bn) to compensate victims.


Film

The biographical disaster movie Deepwater Horizon, released in 2016, depicts the events of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill. The film is based on ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' article "Deepwater Horizon's Final Hours",


See also

* Ixtoc I oil spill * '' Ocean Ranger'' * '' Piper Alpha'' * Tony Hayward


References


External links


Transocean official website


and a
''RigZone.com''


at ''Geographic.org'' * * – detailed media description of the events of the day of the Deepwater Horizon explosion
yahoo news mirror

Photo history of the fire and loss

BOEM reading room on Deepwater Horizon, including Freedom of Information publications

Video explaining the events leading up to the Deepwater Horizon explosion and how it affected the region.
{{Good article 2001 ships Collapsed oil platforms Deepwater Horizon oil spill Drilling rigs Semi-submersibles Ships of the Marshall Islands Ships built by Hyundai Heavy Industries Group Transocean Ships of BP