US Shale Drilling lacks regulatory body.

[James Regan + 1,776]

Damming report into the Pryor blowout reveals that US onshore drilling is lacking in experience, safety, regulations and basic good oilfield practice.

Its hard to believe that land drilling would not adopt OSHA regulations for a safe working place.

The offshore industry does not require to adopt OSHA but chooses to as it’s considered prudent to do so.

Perhaps now after the findings of the CSB will entice the US land drilling industry to be proactive in moving ahead.

https://www.csb.gov/csb-issues-final-report-into-fatal-gas-well-blowout/

[ceo_energemsier + 1,818]

56 minutes ago, James Regan said:

Damming report into the Pryor blowout reveals that US onshore drilling is lacking in experience, safety, regulations and basic good oilfield practice.

Its hard to believe that land drilling would not adopt OSHA regulations for a safe working place.

The offshore industry does not require to adopt OSHA but chooses to as it’s considered prudent to do so.

Perhaps now after the findings of the CSB will entice the US land drilling industry to be proactive in moving ahead.

https://www.csb.gov/csb-issues-final-report-into-fatal-gas-well-blowout/

This was a failure of management, a failure of implementation and enforcement of existing best practices and regulations.

One of the people who worked with this group told me right after the incident happened, that basic safety was not being followed.

Sorry for the loss of life.

But there is no reason for companies to not implement and fully enforce everything on and off the books that make things safer and less accident prone, including training and retraining and testing of all people involved.

 

[James Regan + 1,776]

11 minutes ago, ceo_energemsier said:

This was a failure of management, a failure of implementation and enforcement of existing best practices and regulations.

One of the people who worked with this group told me right after the incident happened, that basic safety was not being followed.

Sorry for the loss of life.

But there is no reason for companies to not implement and fully enforce everything on and off the books that make things safer and less accident prone, including training and retraining and testing of all people involved.

 

Agreed, it just seems strange that the drilling industry would not consider the risks equal both offshore and onshore it’s all the same other than you can run away from a land rig.

Does this imply complacency ??

Yes the loss of life is very hard to accept and thoughts for the families concerned.

[ceo_energemsier + 1,818]

23 minutes ago, James Regan said:

Agreed, it just seems strange that the drilling industry would not consider the risks equal both offshore and onshore it’s all the same other than you can run away from a land rig.

Does this imply complacency ??

Yes the loss of life is very hard to accept and thoughts for the families concerned.

Reading the report and having been told by some people who worked with the companies involved, it is pretty clear that established policies were not followed which led to a series of failures at each level before the accident. Yes, people become complacent after sometime.

All the procedures and safety measures are there for a reason, if they are not followed then...................................

it is an extremely volatile work environment. Lack of proper training supervision and redundancy in training and retraining......

 

[Justin Hicks + 162]

It was an absolutely damning report and the all too common denominator in this equation was UTI-Patterson.

This disaster happened in my home state of Oklahoma and although I didn't know any of the men killed, I'm certainly familiar with the drilling contractor and production company.

Patterson-UTI has crippled more men than Vietnam( my personal opinion).

Years ago I was on rig 315 when the blocks hit the floor because the brake bands were down to the rivets. I've seen "Kelly down" with barely 3 wraps on the drum.  

Safety alarms on rig 219 were turned off, they never had a chance to alert the crew. The crew wasn't properly trained in kick mitigation nor it seems did they recognize the symptoms of an influx.When your pits gain so much mud you have to have a load trucked off, you've got problems.

And the sentences that boil my blood..." "We'll keep that mud weight in our back pocket" and " My guys need to learn to drill in gas"    Motherf@€#!$!!

Drilling underbalanced is tricky enough with a seasoned crew, but when you deliberately cut mud weight to save cost, you're flirting with disasters.

It's my prayer that the lawsuits brought by the men's families push Patterson and Red Mountain Operating to the brink of bankruptcy.

 

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

Have any of you that are commenting ever worked on either an onshore or an offshore drilling rig?

Do you realize that the positions from Driller to Drilling Superintendent are required to re-certify in Well Control by attending either an International Well Control Forum or an International Association of Drilling Contractors course every two years and passing a Policy and Procedures exam, an equipment exam and then a practical exam on a computerized drill floor simulator?

Rigs in the US, and elsewhere, do follow OSHA guidelines in regards to personal safety equipment. OSHA has no expertise in drilling so how would they be able to address safety issues related to equipment, policies or procedures on either an onshore or an offshore rig?

The secondary barrier is NOT human detection! The secondary barrier is defined as the well control equipment installed on the well.

These rigs are built to a standard and evacuation during a blowout is considered. As most blowouts would occur through the rotary table there are always exits through the back of the doghouse. The sad fact is that blowouts are brutal, sudden events that if ignited do not leave much time to react.

There is no such thing as "blowout mud" as mentioned in the article.

Turning off alarms and not following 'good drilling practices is inexcusable.

The article mentions that the situation had been building for 14 hours. During this time the influx (gas bubble) is migrating towards the surface. At some point it would have become uncontrollable regardless of the equipment on the well.

From the information in the article this was a case of human error.

 

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

6 minutes ago, Justin Hicks said:

It was an absolutely damning report and the all too common denominator in this equation was UTI-Patterson.

This disaster happened in my home state of Oklahoma and although I didn't know any of the men killed, I'm certainly familiar with the drilling contractor and production company.

Patterson-UTI has crippled more men than Vietnam( my personal opinion).

Years ago I was on rig 315 when the blocks hit the floor because the brake bands were down to the rivets. I've seen "Kelly down" with barely 3 wraps on the drum.  

Safety alarms on rig 219 were turned off, they never had a chance to alert the crew. The crew wasn't properly trained in kick mitigation nor it seems did they recognize the symptoms of an influx.When your pits gain so much mud you have to have a load trucked off, you've got problems.

And the sentences that boil my blood..." "We'll keep that mud weight in our back pocket" and " My guys need to learn to drill in gas"    Motherf@€#!$!!

Drilling underbalanced is tricky enough with a seasoned crew, but when you deliberately cut mud weight to save cost, you're flirting with disasters.

It's my prayer that the lawsuits brought by the men's families push Patterson and Red Mountain Operating to the brink of bankruptcy.

 

You are absolutely correct in everything you say.

My comments were based on the operator and the drilling contractor following 'good drilling practices', maintaining their rigs, preventive maintenance and having their people certified in well control.

If the operator and contractor fail to do this, it is once again human error.

Your best safety 'device' is a well trained and experienced crew!

[Justin Hicks + 162]

10 minutes ago, Douglas Buckland said:

There is no such thing as "blowout mud" as mentioned in the article

Are you speaking of building a slug or a pill to knock the gas down. And have you ever worked for Patterson UTI? Not the best record in the patch pard

To be painfully honest,if the driller knew the proper way to spot and clear balling, this may not have happened. And by God one critical rule, when you're tripping out keep the damn hole full

I fully agree this was human error, mixed in with a desire to cut costs.

[Justin Hicks + 162]

11 minutes ago, Douglas Buckland said:

You are absolutely correct in everything you say.

My comments were based on the operator and the drilling contractor following 'good drilling practices', maintaining their rigs, preventive maintenance and having their people certified in well control.

If the operator and contractor fail to do this, it is once again human error.

Your best safety 'device' is a well trained and experienced crew!

Sorry boss, I mouthed off on that last comment before I read your follow up 😊😊 

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

My Golden Rule is 'When in doubt, shut  the well in'. Works every time.

[ceo_energemsier + 1,818]

Just now, Douglas Buckland said:

My Golden Rule is 'When in doubt, shut  the well in'. Works every time.

👍 Agreed

IT is sad that these men had to lose their lives, safety comes first always.

I have heard from some people that worked closely with the companies that their training and retraining was not up to the standards and they would let it slide , from the reports and everything else, safety had become  non essential , every step leading to the disaster a human error

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

There are institutions in place to govern rig building and acceptance, equipment specifications and recommended guidelines (API - American Petroleum Institute), there are also institutions which provide 'best practices' and training for well control and drilling operations (IWCF - International Well Control Forum and IADC - International Association of Drilling Contractors). On top of this you will have national regulatory bodies.

To mandate that OSHA get involved in an industry which they are unfamiliar with just adds another confusing regulatory body into the mix.

When you have a drilling boom similar to what is taking place in the US, especially during a slump otherwise internationally, you quickly run into a shortage of qualified, experienced drilling personnel. This is from the roustabout/roughneck level to the drilling manager's level. The 'old hands' are retiring and there is really no EXPERIENCED personnel to take their place...the BIG CREW CHANGE!

You now have, onshore, drillers who were assistant drillers two months ago, toolpushers who were drillers last month and rig managers who were pushing tools last week. There is absolutely no chance for them to gain experience before they get promoted....and the Peter Principal kicks in. You can not teach these skill sets in a classroom!

A similar situation is occurring within the operators arena. The old drilling hands are retiring during the downturn and you now have Senior Drilling Engineers with no time spent on the rigs as Drilling Superintendents or Drilling Supervisors. A very steep learning curve.

The rules, regulations, guidelines and recommended drilling practices are there, but if the responsible party is not aware of them, or chooses to ignore them, there is not much you can do about it.

 

[ceo_energemsier + 1,818]

10 hours ago, Douglas Buckland said:

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

There are institutions in place to govern rig building and acceptance, equipment specifications and recommended guidelines (API - American Petroleum Institute), there are also institutions which provide 'best practices' and training for well control and drilling operations (IWCF - International Well Control Forum and IADC - International Association of Drilling Contractors). On top of this you will have national regulatory bodies.

To mandate that OSHA get involved in an industry which they are unfamiliar with just adds another confusing regulatory body into the mix.

When you have a drilling boom similar to what is taking place in the US, especially during a slump otherwise internationally, you quickly run into a shortage of qualified, experienced drilling personnel. This is from the roustabout/roughneck level to the drilling manager's level. The 'old hands' are retiring and there is really no EXPERIENCED personnel to take their place...the BIG CREW CHANGE!

You now have, onshore, drillers who were assistant drillers two months ago, toolpushers who were drillers last month and rig managers who were pushing tools last week. There is absolutely no chance for them to gain experience before they get promoted....and the Peter Principal kicks in. You can not teach these skill sets in a classroom!

A similar situation is occurring within the operators arena. The old drilling hands are retiring during the downturn and you now have Senior Drilling Engineers with no time spent on the rigs as Drilling Superintendents or Drilling Supervisors. A very steep learning curve.

The rules, regulations, guidelines and recommended drilling practices are there, but if the responsible party is not aware of them, or chooses to ignore them, there is not much you can do about it.

 

That is why during the downturn , when companies were laying off good, experienced employees with all the technical and field experience and knowledge , we retained / hired a lot of people. We didnt need to beef up the employee roster that much @ the time but it was a good investment for the future and soon after we were able to have them all well placed across our different groups with further added training and skills and today everyone is happier.

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

Which company are you describing here?