Category Archives: BOP

Blowout preventer was flawed

Posted on March 23, 2011 by zerbe

A Norwegian firm reports the blowout preventer failed because of faulty design and a bent piece of pipe, shifting some blame away from the oil giant. The 551 page repot cast blame on the blowout preventer’s blind shear rams, which … Continue reading →

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Testing to Begin on Blow Out Preventer

Posted on November 16, 2010 by zerbe

Testing began today on the failed BOP in a NASA facility in New Orleans. The BOP can snuff a blowout by squeezing rubber seals tightly around the pipes with up to 1 million pounds of force. If the seals fail, … Continue reading →

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BOP Recovered from the Ocean Floor

Posted on September 7, 2010 by zerbe

Last night, the failed BOP that had allowed BP’s Macondo well to flow uncontrolled into the Gulf of Mexico for 87 days earlier this year was recovered after a risky US government-ordered replacement procedure was completed. The massive structure was … Continue reading →

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Worst Case Scenario of the Gulf Oil Leak

Posted on August 30, 2010 by zerbe

Referencing many posts from The Oil Drum, a blog often frequented by petroleum engineers and other oil-industry specialists, David Phillips lays out a worst case scenario for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Well. Hopefully this has been proven false by the … Continue reading →

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Raising the Blowout Preventer for Evidence

Posted on August 20, 2010 by zerbe

The raising of the BOP from the Macondo Well is not just a safety precaution. The BOP is also evidence that may reveal how the Gulf oil spill happened. The 450 ton BOP resting a mile below the surface of … Continue reading →

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Final Plugging of Macondo Well Scheduled for September

Posted on August 20, 2010 by zerbe

The U.S. government said the final plugging of BP’s blown-out Gulf well will begin sometime after Labor Day. Before then, engineers are planning a risky maneuver to replace the blowout prevent. The failed blowout preventer, a prime source of interest … Continue reading →

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BP’s Gulf Well May Not Be Permanently Killed Until September

Posted on August 16, 2010 by zerbe

There’s a new Bloomberg article out there that reports that a team of federal scientists and BP engineers is looking at either attaching a pressure-control system to the top of the well or installing a new blowout preventer, an emergency … Continue reading →

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BP Status Update

Posted on June 23, 2010 by zerbe

Blow Out Preventer Detail BP technical briefing and update on Gulf of Mexico oil spill 10 May 2010 Tony Hayward Failure of the Large Dome: A lot more gas involved in leak than previously believed. Moving to a smaller dome … Continue reading →

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Macondo Well Information

Posted on June 21, 2010 by zerbe

This chart shows the design, depth, diameter, and temperature of the Macondo Well where the oil from the BP oil spill is leaking from. PDF of Macondo Well

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