Seminar highlights safety in oil & gas industry

Enhancing safety during offshore oil and gas exploration and production
was the main topic of a seminar, hosted by the Vietnam National Oil and
Gas Group (PetroVietnam) in Ho Chi Minh City on Sept. 30.

PetroVietnam’s Deputy General Director Do Van Hau recalled the
Deepwater Horizon explosion which occurred in the Gulf of Mexico on
April 20, 2010, killing 11 people and triggering the largest-ever oil
spill in the history of oil and gas exploration.

The
incident set off alarm bells throughout the industry and reminded
management agencies and the oil and gas industry to re-examine safety in
the sector, he said.

Hau said that over the past 30
years, PetroVietnam and international contractors have spared no effort
in ensuring the safety of their staff and the environment, stressing
that there have been no serious accidents so far.

However, following the Deepwater Horizon incident, safety in offshore
oil and gas production has become a special concern for the State and a
priority task for the Vietnamese oil and gas industry.

The delegates, including managers and representatives from oil and gas
joint ventures and services companies from Vietnam and overseas,
reviewed and recommended various measures to ensure safety in the
industry.

They also discussed the lessons learnt
from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as well as its impacts on the
international insurance market and the risk management measures and
insurance policies used by oil and gas companies./.

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BP says oil spill costs hit $8 bln

LONDON – British oil giant BP said Friday that the devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster has cost about US$8 billion so far.

"The cost of the response to date amounts to approximately eight billion, including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, static kill and cementing, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs," BP said in a statement.

The April 20 spill was triggered when an explosion ripped through the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and sinking the huge offshore platform two days later. The flow of oil into the sea was not fully stemmed until July 15.

BP has forecast that the worst environmental catastrophe in US history will cost the group a total of about 32.2 billion dollars, after pushing the group into a record 16.9-billion-dollar loss in the second quarter.

The company repeated on Friday that it had agreed in June to set up a 20-billion-dollar compensation fund for residents affected by the spill.

BP added that operations were underway to replace the Deepwater Horizon's damaged blowout preventer (BOP) -- a large piece of equipment that failed to stop the disaster.

On Thursday, the group had removed the massive cap which had stemmed the flow of oil from its ruptured well deep in the Gulf of Mexico in a key step toward killing the well once and for all, officials said.

The damaged BOP will be raised to the surface to be examined and held as evidence in an official investigation, following the removal of the cap.

The ruptured Macondo well was plugged with heavy drilling fluid and then sealed it with cement last month, but the so-called "bottom kill" operation to permanently seal the well was delayed until the blowout preventer is replaced.

The "bottom kill" involves intercepting the crippled well with a relief well, which then pumps heavy drilling oil and cement into the oil well to permanently plug it.

BP said Friday that the replacement of the blowout preventer will "allow operations to complete the relief well to resume".

The company hopes that the relief well will reach the damaged well by around mid-September, depending on weather conditions.

In early morning trade on Friday, the company's shares rose 0.51 percent to 394.60 pence.

However, BP's share price has collapsed as a result of the disaster, shedding about 40 percent in value since the explosion on April 20.

The catastrophe also sparked the resignation of BP chief executive Tony Hayward in July

Hayward was forced out following a string of gaffes as the public face of the firm in its battle to stop oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico.

 

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