AN offshore-safety group said yesterday that a test exercise had proved the UK oil and gas industry could cope with a disaster similar to last year’s Deepwater Horizon explosion.
The Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group (Osprag) said a 10-day operation measuring the sector’s ability to deploy a well-capping device in waters west of Shetland had been successful.
The emergency equipment response deployment (EERD) exercise, which started on July 16, was carried out to make sure a cap built for use in UK waters to seal off a blown-out oil well could be deployed.
It was carried out about 46 miles north-west of Shetland by Total E&P UK on behalf of industry body Oil and Gas UK (OGUK).
Although the French energy firm could not use the actual well cap because it had not yet been completed, it used a device of similar size and weight.
EERD was part of Osprag’s response to the Deepwater Horizon incident at the Macondo well in April last year, in which 11 people were killed and an estimated 4.9million barrels of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico. OGUK chief executive Malcolm Webb said: “The UK oil and gas industry has a very high level of confidence in its ability to prevent blowouts.
“We haven’t experienced one here in over 20 years; in which time over 7,000 wells have been drilled.
“No matter how unlikely a blowout is, we recognise the importance of being prepared for low-probability, worst-case scenarios.
“This is why we regularly test our emergency-response capabilities and why we wanted this particular exercise to be as realistic as possible.
“The next stage will involve a full debrief involving all participants to identify any learning opportunities and OGUK will share these findings throughout the industry.”
The multimillion-pound well cap is being built by oil service firm Cameron, although it is not yet known where the device will be based when it is completed.
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