A report funded by the Interior Department is recommending that the agency work closely with the oil industry to establish standards to prevent spills from bolt failures on undersea safety equipment used in deepwater drilling.
The National Academies of Sciences issued the report Friday, raising concerns about the potential for oil spills that could result from bolt failures on such equipment as blowout preventers. A failed blowout preventer caused the 2010 Deepwater Horizon offshore oil spill, the largest in the industry’s history.
“No major oil spills have resulted from the failure of a bolt or fastener, but there have been minor oil releases and near misses caused by unexpected bolt failures,” according to a summary of the report.
The small spills illustrate a “compelling need” for changing the regular inspection cycle of bolts and fasteners by including “an industrywide continuous monitoring program,” the report recommends.
No standard industrywide inspection program that covers failed or replaced bolts exists, such as the five-year inspection required for blowout preventers under Interior Department rules, the report says.
The blowout preventers are basically large, undersea valves that close automatically to prevent a catastrophic oil spill resulting from the high pressures that deepwater drilling operations face.
The report comes as the Trump administration is repealing federal safety requirements for blowout preventers and offshore well safety rules put in place by the Obama administration. The industry argued that the rules are too prescriptive and undermine the industry’s own safety standards.
But the new report showed that the industry has no standards, or rules, that cover bolt inspections. The National Academies report proposes that the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement “could proactively work with the oil and gas industry to construct a comprehensive road map of key objectives and priorities to be implemented by the industry.”
It would be a collaboration in which the oil industry “should have a large role in determining the priority for addressing potential improvements,” it added.
The report also recommended that the industry “promote an enhanced safety culture across organizations and disciplines” which is “reflected in work rules and encourages all levels of the organization to improve the reliability of undersea bolts.”
It comes as the public comment period ends for the Interior Department’s environmental review of its new offshore drilling plan. The deadline for filing comments is 11:59 p.m. Friday.
