Blowout preventer
Blowout preventer
Cameron International Corporation's EVO Ram BOP
Patent Drawing (with legend)
Patent Drawing of Hydril Annular BOP (with legend)
Patent Drawing of a Subsea BOP Stack (with legend)
A blowout preventer (BOP) is a
specialized valve or similar mechanical
device, used to seal, control and monitor
oil and gas wells to prevent blowouts, the
uncontrolled release of crude oil or
natural gas from a well. They are usually
installed in stacks of other valves.
Blowout preventers were developed to
cope with extreme erratic pressures and
uncontrolled flow (formation kick)
emanating from a well reservoir during
drilling. Kicks can lead to a potentially
catastrophic event known as a blowout.
In addition to controlling the downhole
(occurring in the drilled hole) pressure
and the flow of oil and gas, blowout
preventers are intended to prevent tubing
(e.g. drill pipe and well casing), tools and
drilling fluid from being blown out of the
wellbore (also known as bore hole, the
hole leading to the reservoir) when a
blowout threatens. Blowout preventers
are critical to the safety of crew, rig (the
equipment system used to drill a
wellbore) and environment, and to the
monitoring and maintenance of well
integrity; thus blowout preventers are
intended to provide fail-safety to the
systems that include them.
The term BOP (pronounced B-O-P, not
"bop") is used in oilfield vernacular to
refer to blowout preventers. The
abbreviated term preventer, usually
prefaced by a type (e.g. ram preventer), is
used to refer to a single blowout
preventer unit. A blowout preventer may
also simply be referred to by its type (e.g.
ram). The terms blowout preventer,
blowout preventer stack and blowout
preventer system are commonly used
interchangeably and in a general manner
to describe an assembly of several
stacked blowout preventers of varying
type and function, as well as auxiliary
components. A typical subsea deepwater
blowout preventer system includes
components such as electrical and
hydraulic lines, control pods, hydraulic
accumulators, test valve, kill and choke
lines and valves, riser joint, hydraulic
connectors, and a support frame.
Two categories of blowout preventer are
most prevalent: ram and annular. BOP
stacks frequently utilize both types,
typically with at least one annular BOP
stacked above several ram BOPs.
Blowout preventers are used on land
wells, offshore rigs, and subsea wells.
Land and subsea BOPs are secured to
the top of the wellbore, known as the
wellhead. BOPs on offshore rigs are
mounted below the rig deck. Subsea
BOPs are connected to the offshore rig
above by a drilling riser that provides a
continuous pathway for the drill string
and fluids emanating from the wellbore.
In effect, a riser extends the wellbore to
the rig. Blowout preventers do not always
function correctly. An example of this is
the Deepwater Horizon blowout, where
the pipe line going through the BOP was
slightly bent and the BOP failed to cut the
pipe.
Deepwater Horizon blowout
A robotic arm of a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV)
attempts to activate the "Deepwater Horizon"
Blowout Preventer (BOP), Thursday, April 22, 2010.
During the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig
explosion incident on April 20, 2010, the
blowout preventer should have been
activated automatically, cutting the
drillstring and sealing the well to
preclude a blowout and subsequent oil
spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but it failed to
fully engage. Underwater robots (ROVs)
later were used to manually trigger the
blind shear ram preventer, to no avail.
As of May 2010 it was unknown why the
blowout preventer failed.[1] Chief surveyor
John David Forsyth of the American
Bureau of Shipping testified in hearings
before the Joint Investigation[2] of the
Minerals Management Service and the
U.S. Coast Guard investigating the
causes of the explosion that his agency
last inspected the rig's blowout preventer
in 2005.[3] BP representatives suggested
that the preventer could have suffered a
hydraulic leak.[4] Gamma-ray imaging of
the preventer conducted on May 12 and
May 13, 2010 showed that the preventer's
internal valves were partially closed and
were restricting the flow of oil. Whether
the valves closed automatically during
the explosion or were shut manually by
remotely operated vehicle work is
unknown.[4] A statement released by
Congressman Bart Stupak revealed that,
among other issues, the emergency
disconnect system (EDS) did not function
as intended and may have malfunctioned
due to the explosion on the Deepwater
Horizon.[5]
The permit for the Macondo Prospect by
the Minerals Management Service in
2009 did not require redundant acoustic
control means.[6] Insofar as the BOPs
could not be closed successfully by
underwater manipulation (ROV
Intervention), pending results of a
complete investigation, it is uncertain
whether this omission was a factor in the
blowout.
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