Arctic Challenger

Last updated
Arctic Challenger leaving Port of Bellingham for second round of testing.JPG
The Arctic Challenger is towed by tugs Arctic Titan and Lindsay Foss out to the testing site at the Vendovi Anchorage just north of Samish Island in Samish Bay .
History
General characteristics

Arctic Challenger is a barge which has been converted by Superior Energy Services for use in the Arctic drilling operations of Shell Oil Company. [1] This barge is designed to function as a "novel engineering solution" which they refer to as an Arctic Containment System [2] to respond should a blowout event occur at drilling sites in the Beaufort or Chukchi Seas. According to testimony provided to Senator Mark Begich on 11 October 2012, [3] Coast Guard Rear Admiral Thomas Ostebo said the certification for the Shell spill barge Arctic Challenger to operate in Alaska was given on the 10th of October at the Bellingham, Washington shipyard where it was constructed. Ostebo is commander of the Coast Guard's 17th district, which covers Alaska.

The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) reported that the vessel was able to meet their requirement for processing 2000 gallons of seawater per minute during testing in March, 2013. [4]

Greenberry Industrial has been contracted to provide fabrication and construction services and then Haskell Corp finished fabrication [2] at the Port of Bellingham in Washington state. Shell Oil Company intends Arctic Challenger and its onboard systems to serve as their "fourth line of defense" [5] against a blow out in their drilling operations in the Arctic that could result in a seafloor oil gusher.

The major component of the project is the containment dome which is designed to be lowered over the blowout to vacuum up the spewing crude oil and natural gas and to deliver those products to the equipment on the ship for separation and processing to ameliorate the damage otherwise expected from a submarine blowout resulting from a drilling catastrophe such as occurred with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and other offshore blowouts. [6]

The first line of defense is pouring drilling mud down the well. [7] The second line is activating a blowout preventer, which for Shell Oil in the Arctic involves a double shear ram for redundancy. [8] The third line defense is a capping stack such as was used to try to contain the Macondo Well blowout from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. [9] The fourth line is the containment dome. There is experience with such technology on the BP Macondo Well in 2010. That attempt failed ultimately because "methane gas escaping from the well would come into contact with cold sea water and form slushy hydrates, essentially clogging the cofferdam with hydrocarbon ice." [10]

Shell Oil Company has stated via their spokesperson Kelly op de Weegh “We are committed to having the Arctic containment system in place before drilling through liquid hydrocarbon zones, and that commitment will not change. We are nearing completion of this first-of-its-kind Arctic containment system, which houses response, containment and separation processes in one vessel. While it's a fourth line of defense in the unlikely event of a loss of well control, it will not be deployed until it meets our high standards.” [11]

From the report on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling: [12]

Industry’s responsibilities do not end with efforts to prevent blowouts like that at the Macondo well. They extend to efforts to contain any such incidents as quickly as possible and to mitigate the harm caused by spills through effective response efforts.

The oil and gas industry needs to develop large-scale rescue, response, and containment capabilities. To be successful—and to gain the trust of the industry, government, insurers and the public—these new efforts by industry must include extensive planning and preparations; developing scenarios of new types of potential accidents; and conducting full-scale drills and training exercises that involve both people and equipment, and industry must do all of these things continually.

As next-generation equipment is developed, industry must ensure that its containment technology is compatible with its wells. Capping and containment options should be developed in advance to contain blowouts from platform wells.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Containment dome</span>

A containment dome is a component of the system designed to contain the underwater blowout of an oil well such as occurred with the Macondo Well blowout from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This portion of the system is designed as a vacuum to suck up the products being expelled from a blowout and deliver those products to the containment system housed on the vessel moored above the blowout. Superior Energy Services is constructing this device to be used by Shell Oil Company on the barge Arctic Challenger as their "fourth line of defense" against a blowout in the Arctic drilling regions in the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blowout (well drilling)</span> Uncontrolled release of crude oil and/or natural gas from a well

A blowout is the uncontrolled release of crude oil and/or natural gas from an oil well or gas well after pressure control systems have failed. Modern wells have blowout preventers intended to prevent such an occurrence. An accidental spark during a blowout can lead to a catastrophic oil or gas fire.

<i>Deepwater Horizon</i> Former offshore oil drilling rig

Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig owned by Transocean and operated by BP. On 20 April 2010, while drilling at the Macondo Prospect, a blowout caused an explosion on the rig that killed 11 crewmen and ignited a fireball visible from 40 miles (64 km) away. The fire was inextinguishable and, two days later, on 22 April, the Horizon sank, leaving the well gushing at the seabed and causing the largest marine oil spill in history.

<i>Q4000</i>

Q4000 is a multi-purpose oil field construction and intervention vessel ordered in 1999 by Cal Dive International, and was built at the Keppel AmFELS shipyard in Brownsville, Texas for $180 million. She was delivered in 2002 and operates under the flag of the United States. She is operated by Helix Energy Solutions Group. The original Q4000 concept was conceived and is owned by SPD/McClure. The design was later modified by Bennett Offshore, which was selected to develop both the basic and detailed design.

<i>Deepwater Horizon</i> oil spill Oil spill that began in April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considered to be the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry and estimated to be 8 to 31 percent larger in volume than the previous largest, the Ixtoc I oil spill, also in the Gulf of Mexico. The United States federal government estimated the total discharge at 4,900 Mbbl. After several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on 19 September 2010. Reports in early 2012 indicated that the well site was still leaking. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is regarded as one of the largest environmental disasters in world history.

The Macondo Prospect is an oil and gas prospect in the United States Exclusive Economic Zone of the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana. The prospect was the site of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion in April 2010 that led to a major oil spill in the region from the first exploration well, named itself MC252-1, which had been designed to investigate the existence of the prospect.

<i>Deepwater Horizon</i> explosion 2010 oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico

The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion was an April 20, 2010 explosion and subsequent fire on the Deepwater Horizon semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit, which was owned and operated by Transocean and drilling for BP in the Macondo Prospect oil field about 40 miles (64 km) southeast off the Louisiana coast. The explosion and subsequent fire resulted in the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon and the deaths of 11 workers; 17 others were injured. The same blowout that caused the explosion also caused an oil well fire and a massive offshore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the world, and the largest environmental disaster in United States history.

The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling is a bipartisan presidential commission, established by Executive Order 13543 signed by Barack Obama on May 21, 2010, that is "tasked with providing recommendations on how the United States can prevent and mitigate the impact of any future spills that result from offshore drilling." It came about as a result of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The first public hearings, held on July 12 and 13, 2010 in New Orleans, included scheduled testimony from Federal government officials and representatives of BP on the status of the spill and clean-up efforts, as well as from local officials, community leaders, and scientists on the economic, cultural and ecological impacts of the oil spill on Gulf Coast communities and ecosystems.

The following is a timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It was a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest offshore spill in U.S. history. It was a result of the well blowout that began with the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion on April 20, 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Offshore oil spill prevention and response</span>

Offshore oil spill prevention and response is the study and practice of reducing the number of offshore incidents that release oil or hazardous substances into the environment and limiting the amount released during those incidents.

Following is a timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill for June 2010.

Following is a timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill for July 2010.

Following is a Timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill for May 2010.

Efforts to stem the Deepwater Horizon oil spill were ongoing from the time that the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, 2010 until the well was sealed by a cap on July 15, 2010. Various species of dolphins and other mammals, birds, and the endangered sea turtles have been killed either directly or indirectly by the oil spill. The Deepwater Horizon spill has surpassed in volume the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill as the largest ever to originate in U.S.-controlled waters; it is comparable to the 1979 Ixtoc I oil spill in total volume released.

Donald F. Boesch is a professor of marine science and, from 1990 to 2017, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. From 2006-2017, he concurrently served as Vice Chancellor for Environmental Sustainability for the University System of Maryland. In 2010, he was appointed by President Barack Obama as a member of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling to investigate the root causes of the blowout at the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Deepwater Horizon investigation included several investigations and commissions, among others reports by National Incident Commander Thad Allen, United States Coast Guard, National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, National Academy of Engineering, National Research Council, Government Accountability Office, National Oil Spill Commission, and Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GuLF Study</span>

The GuLF Study, or Gulf Long-term Follow-up Study, is a five-year research project examining the human-health consequences of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010. The spill followed an explosion on a drilling rig leased by BP, the British oil company, and led to the release of over four million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, 48 miles off the coast of Louisiana in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seattle Arctic drilling protests</span> Seattle-based protest

Protests against Arctic drilling began in Seattle in 2015 in response to the news that the Port of Seattle authority made an agreement with Royal Dutch Shell to berth offshore drillships and semi-submersibles at the Port's Terminal 5 (T5) during the off-season of oil exploration in Alaskan waters of the Arctic. Hundreds of protesters took to Elliott Bay in kayaks, rafts, and other small boats, both as a demonstration and to interrupt docking of Shell's Polar Pioneer semi-submersible drilling vessel at Terminal 5. The waterborne demonstrators were dubbed kayaktivists by social and news media.

Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC) provides well containment equipment and technology in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico for use after blowouts. It is based in Houston, Texas. MWCC members are major companies in the petroleum industry that drill wells in the Gulf of Mexico including: BP, Shell Oil, ExxonMobil, Chevron Corporation and ConocoPhillips.

HWCG LLC is a not-for-profit consortium of deepwater oil and gas companies. HWCG maintains a comprehensive deepwater well containment response model that can be activated immediately in the event of a US Gulf of Mexico subsea blowout. It comprises oil and gas companies operating in the Gulf and incorporates the consortium’s generic well containment plan. HWCG has a healthy mutual aid component whereby HWCG members will respond and support another member’s incident.

References

  1. ↑ "Superior Energy Services (SPN) — Global Oil Field Services & Equipment, Oil Well Intervention, Employment & SPN Subsidiaries". Superiorenergy.com. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Arctic Containment System". Greenberry Industrial. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Begich receives upbeat report from federal and industry officials on 2012 oil drilling season". Begich.senate.gov. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "Shell's Arctic 'beer can' passes federal test in Puget Sound". KTOO. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  5. ↑ "Shell's safety system problems plague Arctic plans". Fox News. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  6. ↑ "Worst Offshore Blowouts - Oil Rig Disasters - Offshore Drilling Accidents". Home.versatel.nl. Archived from the original on 28 December 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  7. ↑ National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. "National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling - Response - Stemming the Flow - Top Kill". National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013.
  8. ↑ "The 2012 Annual General Meeting of Royal Dutch Shell plc". shell.com. Archived from the original on 4 August 2013.
  9. ↑ National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. "National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling - Response - Stemming the Flow - Capping Stack". National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. Archived from the original on 24 July 2013.
  10. ↑ National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. "National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling - Response - Stemming the Flow - Containment Dome". National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013.
  11. ↑ "Fuel Fix » Shell's drilling rig begins two-week trek to Arctic sea". Fuel Fix. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  12. ↑ National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. "National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling - Going Forward - Changing Industry - Oil Spill Response and Containment". National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. Archived from the original on 18 February 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.