On July 24, the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) initiated the first drill designed to deploy critical pieces of state-of-the-art well control equipment to the ultra-deep seabed of the US Gulf of Mexico in an effort to exercise the oil and gas industry’s response to a potential subsea blowout.
The BSEE said that the multi-week exercise, which employs the Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC), is part of a series of planned and unannounced exercises and inspections conducted by the agency to ensure the industry’s ability to meet the conditions of their oil spill response plans and effectively respond to a potential spill.
It was the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of April 2012 that triggered a drastic overhaul of the US oil and gas safety regime in a bid to eliminate any further offshore disasters in American waters.