Offshore Oil Spills News

Helix Energy Solutions Group has entered into a new agreement for offshore oil spill response resources with HWCG, a consortium of deepwater oil and gas companies in the Gulf of Mexico who have come together with the shared goal of quickly responding to offshore oil spills.Under the agreement, HWCG’s members are given the opportunity to identify the Helix Fast Response System as a response resource in permit applications to U.S. federal and state agencies, and to deploy the Helix Fast Response System to respond to a well control incident in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The global Oil Spill Dispersant Market is anticipated to grow at a constant CAGR around 3% during the forecast period 2019 to 2026 and reach the market value around USD 23.6 billion.The growth of the market for oil spillers depends directly on the frequency, the time and volume of petroleum spill events, said a market report by Acumen Research and Consulting.Oil pollution is a common term for seawater, land water or land contamination due to oil release due to an accident or human error. Oil contamination is spread throughout the world and is boiled both onshore and offshore. The number of major oil spills annually decreases since the last ten years, but very frequent small oil spills are mainly driving the market for petroleum spills.

A new Texas Tidal Inlet Protection Strategies (TIPS) program, being developed by researchers at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, will soon be in place to protect our state’s sensitive bays and estuaries from the potential harm of offshore oil spills. The bays and estuaries of the Texas coast serve as nurseries for several species of marine organisms including sport fish. These estuaries are connected to the Gulf of Mexico through various inlets. An oil spill in any of these sensitive habitats has the potential to kill fish and even shut down popular tourist areas.

The dictionary defines “complacency” as tranquil pleasure or self-satisfaction, especially when uncritical or unwarranted. Groups are prone to complacency when events occur as expected over an extended period of time. They let their guard down, assuming that events will continue to turn out as they have in the recent past. It is one of the most important jobs of leaders and managers to prevent their groups from falling into a culture of complacency. Otherwise, the group will be set up for failure, perhaps catastrophic.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) today issued a Notice to Lessees (NTL) that provides further guidance on the previously issued Safety and Environmental Management System (SEMS) rule. The SEMS rule, also referred to as the Workplace Safety Rule, is designed to reduce the likelihood of accidents, injuries and spills that occur in connection with offshore oil and gas exploration and development activities on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The NTL consolidates guidance and information to help operators comply with the requirements of the rule. Operators are required to implement a SEMS program by November 15, 2011.

The Department of the Interior announced on Sept. 30 two new rules that will help improve drilling safety by strengthening requirements for safety equipment, well control systems, and blowout prevention practices on offshore oil and gas operations, and improve workplace safety by reducing the risk of human error. “These new rules and the aggressive reform agenda we have undertaken are raising the bar for the oil and gas industry’s safety and environmental practices on the Outer Continental Shelf,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, who announced the rules today in a speech at the Woodrow Wilson International Center. “Under these new rules…

Enviro Voraxial Technology, Inc. has received a purchase order to deploy the underwater version of EVTN’s high volume Voraxial 4000 Separator. EVTN envisions its underwater design as the core technology for an advanced generation of skimmer vessels to facilitate the Gulf clean-up effort and to effectively protect the environment from future offshore oil spills. Other technologies that have been deployed in the Gulf followed a similar trial process. The new Underwater Voraxial oil recovery method allows the operator to separate oil from water in the ocean. By conducting the separation in the ocean, the vessels can skim oil for 10 times longer since the amount of water collected in the holding tanks is reduced by 90%.

Deltron, Inc. (DTRO), through its Blu Vu Deep Oil and Gas Exploration, Inc. division, is developing rebreather equipment to aid in preventing and containing offshore oil spills. Deltron recognizes the critical need for solutions to improve inspection, maintenance and repair of deep water oil and gas rigs like BP's Deepwater Horizon. The company has designed proprietary closed circuit rebreather systems to enable commercial divers to reach greater depths, stay underwater longer, increase productivity while submerged, and reduce decompression and recovery time. Deltron's solutions are engineered to allow offshore drilling companies to…