A Case Study in Planning and Executing a Source-Control Exercise Using a Visual Simulator as a Well Response Training Tool

Abstract

Since the 2010 Macondo incident, the oil industry has made many strides in improving offshore blowout prevention and preparedness. This includes manufacturing over 20 large subsea capping stacks with other supporting subsea source control equipment (e.g. cutting tools for debris removal, injection and monitoring equipment for subsea dispersants) , and routinely conducting emergency exercises to demonstrate the ability to simulate deploying their subsea control equipment defined in their source control emergency response plans, often on short notice for government initiated unannounced exercises. In 2017, Anadarko partnered with U.S. and Mexican government agencies to conduct a joint-preparedness exercise to demonstrate a binational response to a hypothetical pollution incident that would threaten the border zone of both countries. The exercise conduced in accordance with the Mexico – US (MEXUS) Plan, a bilateral agreement between both countries for offshore spill that would originate in one country and could impact the other country. Coordinating a drill that involved over 300 participants from multiple companies and organizations took several years. A short coming of previous similar exercises have been the lack of visualization and sense of realism. A fit-for-purpose visualization simulator was used improve the overall training and learning experience. The visual simulator is coupled with a dynamic multi-phase simulator to ensure that the physics of the blowout and intervention operations are as realistic as possible. The improved visualizations and physics of the source-control operation significantly improved the learnings compared to previous exercise events. This paper explains the general methodology for closing a capping stack, and, more importantly, the planning process that made the drill successful.