GE3181 Drilling Engineering

Extra Credits

Due: 30/4/2023
+ up to 20 points for either Midterm exam or Final exam.

In the aftermath of Deepwater Horizon disaster, not only BP – the Macondo well Operator, and
the US government, conducted investigations, but also Transocean – the rig operator, and other
entities. US Coast Guard has a webpage with content summaries and all the links to the different
reports. Also, there are many videos that companies and agencies made available to help
understand the disaster, as well as many documentaries about the event. For example: BP;
Transocean, USCSB, Stanford University . Finally, very recently, in March 2023, the US National
Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine released a report evaluating the changes and
effects of those changes in the offshore oil & gas industry, 13 years after the Macondo disaster.

Your Tasks:
1. Summarize the findings (main reasons for blowout and spills) and main recommendations
from those reports (submit a 2000-word report)

2. Make a presentation about one of the following of the Macondo well (submit your slides
& presentation clip):
a. The organizations, people, and communication channels involved in drilling the
well
b. Well casing design (planned vs. actual) and reasons for changes
c. BOP configurations and their (supposed) functions as the secondary well control
mechanism
d. Well cement design
e. The planned temporary abandonment procedure
f. Tests that help evaluate and ensure that the well is safe
g. Changes in operations and regulations that have helped increase safety for drilling
offshore (in the US Gulf of Mexico).