MWCC capping stack. Source: MWCC. Click to enlarge.

The multi-week exercise employs the Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC) and is part of a series of planned and unannounced exercises and inspections conducted by BSEE to ensure the industry’s ability to meet the conditions of their oil spill response plans and effectively respond to a potential spill.

The exercise will involve the mobilization and field deployment of a capping stack to the sea floor in approximately 7,000 feet of water, latching it to a test wellhead, and pressurizing the system. The exercise is also designed to test an operator’s ability to obtain and schedule the deployment of the supporting systems necessary for successful containment—including debris removal equipment and other oil collection devices. The MWCC capping stack is similar to the one that was used to stop the flow of oil from the Deepwater Horizon well.

Following the Deepwater Horizon incident, the Interior Department undertook an overhaul of oil and gas safety regulations. Included in these is the expectation that companies would have access to and could deploy surface and subsea containment resources that would be adequate to promptly respond to a blowout or other loss of well control, several components of which are being tested in this exercise.

In May, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar had directed MWCC to conduct a live drill as an opportunity to deploy systems, test readiness for a worst-case scenario, and train under real-time conditions.

BSEE inspectors, engineers, and spill response experts will be embedded in various locations throughout the exercise, including in the command center and on the vessel deploying the capping stack, to oversee the mobilization, deployment, and associated tests of the system. BSEE experts will oversee the capping stack being lowered to the seafloor by wire, a technique that offers the potential to be significantly faster than the deployment via pipe that occurred during the Deepwater Horizon response.