News

Oil in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to reach landfall in Florida today, as BP have just managed to cap the spill from the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded 11 weeks ago.

The beaches in the north west of Florida are expected to be hardest hit by the sheen of crude that was nine miles off the coast on Wednesday afternoon. BP have just announced that they have capped the spill using a similar method to the failed attempt three weeks ago, when a huge containment dome was lowered over the broken riser pipe.

In response to the looming environmental disaster on Florida’s coastline workers have sited more spill containment booms along the most threatened areas to protect the wildlife. When it reaches the coast, the spill is expected to contain many thousands of tar balls and huge quantities of decayed oil.

Florida’s governor Charlie Crist has stated that:

"The goal is to remove that oil from near shore waters and prevent or minimise any potential impacts on our state,"

And, easy to judge his level of concern. The oil has been spilling from the broken pipe on the seabed for the last eleven weeks, with BP currently facing a bill of around £674 million in estimated clean up costs. It remains to be seen whether the newly sited cap will work.

BP’s share price is at its lowest level for over a year in response to the negative impact generated by the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Shares fell by 13% on Monday before closing at £4.30.

In a knock-on effect pension funds in the UK are also counting the cost of the disaster, with many major shareholders investing in the firm. In fact, it has been muted that if BP’s share price continues to fall, it could be a potential takeover target for other global oil companies.

In response to the huge quantity of oil still leaking into the sea off the Gulf of Mexico coastline, BP have stepped up their current containment strategy by using double the initial amount of floating booms. The length of the boom is now estimated to reach an astonishing 3.7 million feet. It is hoped that as a consequence more oil can be collected from the surface of the water and hence damage to the surrounding environment can be minimised.

We hope to bring you news on whether BP’s latest containment device has worked over the coming days.

Following the devastation caused by the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, leaders of the North Sea oil industry are meeting to discuss their own disaster recovery procedures.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has now entered its eleventh week and Bp is still no nearer to a total containment solution. Various method have been used to try to contain the leak but all have so far failed, with BP’s latest attempt being another cap which is hoped to be fitted over the ruptured pipe.

As a consequence of the current situation in the Gulf of Mexico, Oil and Gas UK are holding an advisory group meeting that will include senior figures from trade unions and the government should such an event happen in the North Sea. OSPRAG – The Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group, is to hold its next meeting in Aberdeen. They will focus on areas such as national emergency measures that may need to be taken, technical problems and protection of personnel and also the spill response capabilities and remediation and also insurance requirements.

The North Sea oil industry is more tightly regulated than in other parts of the world, so a similar event is unlikely to happen in the North Sea. But if it did, it is worth knowing that strategies are currently being worked upon to ensure a rapid response.

With the “Top Kill” method now abandoned, BP are pinning their hopes on a new spill containment method to stop oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.

BP has already spent over £645million trying to contain the flow of oil from the broken riser pipe on the seabed in the Gulf of Mexico, after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded eleven weeks ago.

It seems that BP is now fighting a political battle as well as an environmental battle with the US government heavily pressurising the oil company to find a solution. The next method likely to be used will be a spill containment cap over the leak so oil can be pumped to the surface. The operation is however highly complicated with robot submersibles having to accurately cut the pipe before the cap can be fitted. Meanwhile BP is drilling relief wells that won’t be finished until August.

The spill containment unit will not completely stop the flow of oil into the sea, but it is hoped that the vast majority can be pumped to the surface. It seems the pressure is on for BP to deliver this time after the previous spill containment dome failed when ice crystals blocked the funnel.

Control equipment is essential to reduce the exposure of dangerous substances to employees in an industrial environment. There are many companies that use a variety of dangerous chemicals and substances all over the UK. And, each of these companies needs to have good working practices in place to minimise the risk to employees.

Two common control measures to minimise risk that need regular maintenance are spill control and personal protective equipment

Spill control

Hazardous chemicals are commonly found in liquid form and as such should be contained in appropriate vessels and in the correct type of storage container. If for example, bunded drum stores and chemical storage units are used at your industrial facility, they should be checked regularly to make sure that they do the job they are intended to do. And, so your company complies with the current environmental protection agency recommendations.

Personal protective equipment (PPE)

Personal protective equipment is an important control measure at any industrial facility. The stock levels of this equipment and the maintenance of such equipment is therefore a necessary requirement of employers. If the PPE you use is no longer up to the job it was designed to do, it will no longer provide the correct degree of protection and hence will constitute an exposure danger to the wearer.

The fight against the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico continues as BP start pumping mud into the oil well again following a brief suspension to the top kill spill control method.

It is not clear whether the top kill method has worked yet, but with BP estimating that they have spent £640m on response costs, they will be hoping for a success.

The top kill procedure was briefly suspended so that progress could be monitored but the method has been continued again now.

It is expected that news of whether the procedure has worked will be heard over the weekend. If it has been successful, then cement will be injected in order to seal the oil well.

In response to the disaster, Barack Obama has suspended test drilling on 33 rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and he has also stopped deepwater drilling for the next six months.

The president is set to visit Louisiana in order to see some of the devastation caused by the leak and he has said that he will hold BP accountable for the disaster. He also defended his government’s dealing of the situation.

In previous articles we have discussed the importance of maintaining your control equipment and making sure that it will do the job that it is intended to do. Here, we will discuss who that person should be and what skills they should have.

Maintenance should be done by a competent person

Just as you would expect that the person who designed and installed your control equipment should have an adequate level of competency in the job they did, you should also make sure that designated members of staff on your site are also competent at maintaining and using the equipment.

Workers need to be involved in the development of suitable control methods and be encouraged to take ownership of systems at your plant, so ongoing improvements and regular reporting can take place.

However, the initial training and instruction on this equipment is of paramount importance if they are to be safe when using it.

• When the equipment is initially installed the dangers should be explained to those who will use the equipment in detail.

• Before any spills, you need to have practice drills, so workers can be trained to use spill kits if a real spill occurs.

• Demonstrate to your workers how the control measure works and explain how the risks are reduced.

• Discuss the necessary personal protective equipment when handling the equipment.

A competent person is a person who feels completely at ease using the equipment and who has had sufficient training and has knowledge of the equipment that allows them to use the equipment properly.

Employers need to have ongoing maintenance procedures in place to look after their spill control and containment devices. If these devices are not maintained regularly and checked that when called upon, they can do the job they are intended to do, the consequences could be disastrous.

Here is a list of things you might think about when designing good control practices:

• Are you using the right control measure according to the amount of substance you are using?

• Are you checking on a regular basis that the systems you have will work when required?

• Do you discuss the potential dangers and hazards on your site with your workers?

• Do you use good working practices that keep the risk of exposure to employees at a minimum?

• Are the measures you are currently using, easy to use and do the work effectively?

• Do you make available all types of needed personal protective equipment?

• Do you keep maintenance records of your equipment?

• If changes to the containment system are necessary, do you make sure the health and safety risks are minimised?

As an employer, the health and safety of your employees is of utmost importance and because you are responsible for this, you should have effective measures in place to control exposure and protect their health.

Diagnostic tests have been carried out to determine whether BP can go ahead with their plans to plug the leaking oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

The plan is to use a ‘top kill’ system which involves heavy drilling fluids being injected into the well a mile underwater.

Over the last few weeks, several tactics have failed when it has come to trying to stop the leaking oil doing any more damage so now BP are really feeling the pressure for this latest plan to work.

It has been estimated that around 5,000 barrels of oil are leaking a day and this is destroying the wildlife in the surrounding areas. The American government have said that the seafood producing states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are all facing disaster as a result of the leak which took 11 lives when the drilling rig first exploded.

It is said that the ‘top kill’ spill control method of plugging the leak has a 50-50 chance of working. It has been a successful method all over the world, but the procedure has never been tried 5,000 feet below sea level.

Tests have been carried out to make sure that the blowout preventer of the well would be able to withstand the pressure of the injection.