Latest Blowout Stories

The numerous technical and operational breakdowns that contributed to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and spill from the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico suggest the lack of a suitable approach for managing the inherent risks, uncertainties, and dangers associated with deepwater drilling operations and a failure to learn from previous "near misses," says an interim report of preliminary findings from a committee of the National Academy of Engineering and National Research...

High Formation Pressures Encountered in Guan Structure at Zitong-1 well CALGARY, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - David Dyck, President and Chief Operating Officer of Ivanhoe Energy Inc. (TSX: IE, NASDAQ: IVAN) and Gerald Moench, President of Sunwing Energy Ltd. today announced an update on the Company's drilling operations in the Sichuan Province of China. Sunwing Energy is currently drilling two wells at its Zitong gas exploration block. These wells are targeting gas in fractured...

Efforts are underway this weekend to salvage the blowout preventer at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico that failed to shut off the gushing oil as designed when an April 20 explosion sank the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig, killing 11 workers. US spill chief Thad Allen said Friday that efforts to remove pipes near the massive valve had failed so far. He said the go ahead was given to remove and replace the blowout preventer over the coming days. Salvaging the blowout preventer could offer a...

A U.S. Official said Thursday that BP is hoping to permanently seal the ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well in the second week of September, as pressure concerns keep delaying the final "bottom kill" operations. "We should be looking somewhere in the week after Labor Day," US spill chief Thad Allen told CNN television. The oil well was capped on July 15, and earlier this month BP engineers performed a "static kill" operation by plugging it with heavy drilling...

LAFAYETTE, La., July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Days after the blowout and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon Drilling Rig, Burner Fire Control, a Lafayette, LA-based company, was called upon to mobilize an emergency response crew to provide rig cooling services, more commonly known throughout the industry as a "Water Curtain(R)" package to deploy aboard the Transocean Discoverer Enterprise. The purpose of this Water Curtain(R) system was to allow the rig to burn off any oil and/or gas captured from...

A drill rig headed back to the site of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on Saturday after reports that an oncoming storm had weakened, as officials raced to restart drilling a relief well to permanently "kill" the leaking well. The Development Driller 3, assigned to drill the relief well, had been evacuated from the area as Tropical Storm Bonnie headed for the region. But the storm weakened to a tropical depression by Saturday. "The Development Driller 3 (DD3) is on its way back," BP spokesman...

DEP Secretary Says Blowout 'Could Have Been a Catastrophic Incident' HARRISBURG, Pa., July 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Untrained personnel and the failure to use proper well control procedures were the principal causes of a June 3 natural gas well blowout in Clearfield County, according to an independent investigation that was released today by the Department of Environmental Protection. DEP Secretary John Hanger said the blowout, which allowed natural gas and wastewater to escape from...

Order Follows 16-Hour Gas Well Leak in Clearfield County; Comprehensive Investigation Gets Underway HARRISBURG, Pa., June 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Environmental Protection today ordered EOG Resources Inc. to suspend its natural gas well drilling activities in Pennsylvania after a June 3 blowout at one of the company's Clearfield County wells sent natural gas and at least 35,000 gallons of drilling wastewater into the sky and over the ground for 16 hours. DEP Secretary...

HARRISBURG, Pa., June 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Encouraging motorists to check the pressure in their vehicles' tires on a frequent basis, DEP Secretary John Hanger today announced the opening of the Nitrogen Tire Inflation System Grant program. "Tires inflated with nitrogen can produce short- and long-term benefits through better fuel efficiency and improved tire wear," said Hanger. "Over time, tires on all vehicles lose pressure. Tests show tires inflated with nitrogen maintain...

A private school in Dallas has apologized after its girls' basketball team won a game against another school 100-0. Administrators at the Covenant School of Dallas, which won the Jan. 13 game, said they have asked to forfeit the victory to the Dallas Academy, which specializes in teaching children with learning problems, KXAS-TV, Dallas, reported Friday. Jeremy Civello, athletic director for the Dallas Academy, said Thursday in a Dallas Morning News article the Convent School kept its...