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Like many people who are employed on offshore drilling rigs, the devastating explosion and fire that happened on the Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible drilling rig is a severe reminder of the threats found in deepwater offshore drilling for oil and gas. Few will fail to remember the spectacular primetime news images and the serious lean the stricken rig took as the fire continued, before sliding under the sea surface a few days afterwards on April 22 at 5:30 pm.

The nation and oil industry prayers remain with families of the eleven drill workers who were lost along with another 17 rig workers who were injured, three of them critically. Having personally experienced a dangerous offshore rig explosion, it brought back many memories.  Like many in the drilling industry who have worked for Transocean we are all appalled and saddened by this Oil Rig Disaster.

The deepwater DP semisubmersible drilling rig is owned and operated by Transocean and was drilling under contract to the BP oil company. Transocean are the world’s biggest offshore drilling contractor and have 140 offshore drilling units. The Minerals Management Service stated that there are 90 drilling rigs working within U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico with oil output currently at 1.7 million barrels per day along with 6.6 billion cubic feet of gas output each day.

The Deepwater Horizon drill rig was drilling the Macondo Prospect for BP about 52 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana.  BP are partners in this along with MOEX Offshore which has 10% and Anadarko who hold 25% of the working interest in this operation.

They drilling rig had reportedly just set and cemented 7 inch steel casing in the well bore before it exploded and caught fire at 10:00 pm on the hours of darkness of April 20, 2010. The rig was drilling in a water depth of 6940 feet and had drilled to a total depth of 18,360 feet. 

Following the explosion, the U.S. Coast Guard initiated a major search effort for the 11 unaccounted rig crew and up to six firefighting vessels stood by the burning rig to have a go and contain the massive fire. The US Coast Guard dispatched helicopters from New Orleans and Mobile to evacuate rig crew and also to assist in the hunt for the unfound crew. Four USCG cutters were also mobilized to the scene.

While many ignorant people with limited offshore drilling experience or knowledge hypothecate about the cause of the disaster and question the rig safety record, others try and apportion fault to BP. It must be stated that BP did not own and operate the drilling rig and the Deepwater Horizon was a well proven and up-to-date rig. It was reported that the drilling rig had at least three safety inspections in 2010 and just prior to the blast there was no signal of any problems on board.

People should realise that major fires and explosions on oil drilling rigs are reasonably rare as they are designed with fire prevention and safety as a priority at the construction stage. Fire is the worst enemy offshore and at sea on boats and safety is the paramount facet of all operational tasks and activities, as evacuation isn’t straight forward to carry out,. This is the main reason why drilling contractors search for and hire experienced rig crew. The Minerals Management Service declared that there were 39 fires or explosions offshore in the Gulf of Mexico within the initial five months of 2009, and all these were categorised as insignificant or incidental.

Follow the subsequent articles on this tragic incident as the oil contamination crisis grows and the political and industry fallout continues, where drilling procedures will be explained along with other helpful data. The writer John Payne has over 35 years in the marine and  offshore oil industries and presently works for an offshore drilling company. He is also the author of the new book Piracy Today.