Presenting – “Global Subsea Well Containment System & Dynamic Kill Impact on Well Design”

Subsea wells are located in virtually every oil & gas producing region around the world. Equipment packages and systems designed to quickly regain control of a subsea blowout need to be available on a global basis. The Global Subsea Well Containment System (GSWCS) provides a fully transportable set of key components that can be quickly mobilized to any part of the world and employed to accomplish debris removal and well capping operations. When combined with other locally available subsea components appropriate for the water depths and well types in a given region, the GSWCS provides the capability to implement the crucial first steps in establishing containment.
 
Dynamic kill operations will almost certainly be a consideration on any deepwater blowout since this type of kill is typically employed upon relief well intercept. Dynamic kills in deepwater are logistically and operationally challenging operations that demand detailed evaluation and planning. Certain aspects of the well design will impact the planning and implementation of the dynamic kill. A brief discussion of dynamic kill planning will highlight those aspects of the well design that have the largest impact.

David Barnett is Sr. Vice President of Wild Well Control, a Houston based company specializing in worldwide firefighting, well control and engineering services.  David has over 30 years of drilling, snubbing, coiled tubing and well control experience. He has been involved with the planning and implementation of numerous relief wells, blowout capping operations, high pressure snubbing and well recovery operations.  He was a team leader during the Kuwait oil fires in 1991, kill team leader on the Macondo blowout in 2010 and has worked on well control events in numerous countries. David earned his degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston and is a member of AADE, SPE and IADC. 

Roger Scheuermann, Commercial Director (Helix Well Containment Group – HWCG)

Presenting – “Capabilities of Helix Well Containment Group”

The Helix Well Containment Group (HWCG) is a consortium of 24 deepwater operators in the Gulf of Mexico who have come together with the common goal of quickly and comprehensively responding to a well control incident to protect people, property and the environment.  HWCG has developed a deepwater well containment response system capable of being immediately deployed in the event of a deepwater well control incident. This system brings together the technical expertise and resources from this diverse group of operators and their industry contractors. It builds upon equipment technology proven since the inception of deepwater drilling, now with enhancements tested and proven in the Deepwater Horizon response. Further, each HWCG member company has committed to a mutual aid agreement, allowing any member to draw upon the collective technical expertise, assets and resources of the group.  A video will show HWCG capabilities and discuss the HWCG model for well containment in the GOM.

For the past 10 years, Roger Scheuermann worked at O’Brien’s Response Management, a leading provider of crisis and emergency response services, where he served as vice president of sales and was responsible for developing the firm’s preparedness program for over 150 E&P clients. In this role, he coordinated drills, equipment deployments and other emergency notifications.  Prior to that, he worked for Environmental Safety & Health, where he was a business development manager responsible for environmental services and execution of drills for four years. From 1991-1997, he worked for OIL MOP, OMI, an environmental services company, where he helped manage oil spills on behalf of his clients. Roger graduated in petroleum technology from Nicholls State University in Thibodeaux, LA and has completed numerous trainings by the U.S. Coast Guard and Federal Emergency Management.

Presenting – “Marine Well Containment Company”

Following the Deepwater Horizon incident, ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell recognized the need to improve containment capability for a potential deepwater well control incident in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. This led to the formation of a not-for-profit, independent company, Marine Well Containment Company, which would develop, maintain and advance well containment systems for the U.S. Gulf. Following formation, MWCC gained six additional members (for a total of ten member companies): BP, Apache, Anadarko, BHP Billiton, Statoil and Hess. This coming together signified unprecedented industry collaboration and is a key reason that drilling has resumed in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The company completed the interim containment system (ICS) in February 2011. The interim containment system is an accomplishment that required a deep and shared sense of commitment and a common, unified purpose. All of the equipment is being maintained in a response-ready state. The ICS is engineered to cap or contain a well in deepwater depths up to 8,000 feet. Improvements to the ICS were made that extended the capping-only capability to 10,000 feet. The system has the capacity to contain up to 60,000 barrels of liquid per day and can handle up to 120 million standard cubic feet of gas per day. MWCC intends to further its mission with the introduction of an expanded containment system. The expanded containment system (ECS) will provide greater capability and capacity than the interim containment system.