The blowout preventer that was intended to shut off the flow of high-pressure oil and gas from the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico during the disaster on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20, 2010, failed to seal the well because drill pipe buckled for reasons the offshore drilling industry remains largely unaware of.
Finally, an actual explanation of what happened. Only had to wait four years for it.
doggonemess Ha! What about those goddamn crooked-teeth limeys waiting 234 years to finally get us back? ... this is their payback for 1776
BP should never have Employed American Company Men.. God Dam Cowboys caused this Blowout to happen..
BP took over Amoco, an American Company, and I believe they inherited the staff and American company men..First thing happened the badly neglected Texas oil refinery blew up.. BP got the blame for that as well.. By the way the worst offshore tragedy was on the Piper Alpha platform in the North Sea, 1988... 167 men died that night.. The Operator was Occidental Petroleum, an American Company were found largely responsible for the disaster.. Just Saying..
@@williamlaurence4754 I thought Piper Alpha was owned by BP as well. That's new information, thanks.
@Nightfury Matthew Dude . like there s not enough info on this story . It s been out there for years. lol It s a frick n OLD story. And it s all way s the same story . Stupid hillbilly worker s , who s got to make there boss happy . The pressure test was a disaster . End of story .
Integrity tests on the Macondo well showed that it was unstable, but BP ignored these signs because the rig was behind schedule and they didn't want to waste any more time.
Bulging Battery and they misread a test to see if there were problems with the well so they did not fall further behind. They did a test on one part of the pipe and the psi climbed to 1400. When they did the other it didn't. but they did not notice that the reading on the part that they tested the first time climbed again, it shouldn't have done that. But because they were behind the explained it away as a natural occurance, when it wasn't. The well was leakinf
The entire power structure of bp should be in prison serving life terms for negligence.
Because Time is Money. They key word here is Money Wasted. Not time. They've got all the time in the world. Money too. Until someones not getting there's. Only then is there no time to waste on more testing. Time on a Rig is BIG Money not going into manys bank accounts.
The "free market" in action lol
*money
How could miss wiring happen in such a critical equipment and can't get detected during testing.
They need a law requiring equipment like this, to be inspected and tested by a qualified 3rd party personal before each use.
I've worked with engineers who say their design is so good that it can't fail i.e. don't need to test it! I forgot the part that this was a discussion about production testing. Meaning their design + assembly. One bad weld or solder joint prevents a perfect design from being perfect.
@@monteclark1115 According to Republicans that would be "burdensome regulation"
@@SirDeanosity You said it. I worked in the Commercial Nuclear field and it was the same over confident attitude that lead to 3 mile island. I started in the field shortly there after but servicing Navy reactors. Triple checks were the rule of the day.
At the chemical plant I work at we have a schedule where we test safety systems often. No amount of money saved from bypassing safety testing will beat the amount of money lost when that safety is compromised.
As one of the many Americans that routinely work in hazardous conditions i’d like to say thank you for producing these videos. Many people do not realize that there job is as dangerous as it is and act in reckless manners. I cant emphasize enough, pay attention and stop if you are unsure!
And test the system properly, and positively, for EVERY SINGLE potential failure.
ninho manoel I have to ask. Why do people like you value satisfying your bosses every fucking need and your job over your life? If my boss asked me to clean up something toxic or break a rule for the sake of making money I would say fuck you! And apply somewhere else.
Yes, there are lives at stake in avoiding complacency and paying attention to details. The lowly devices like the circuit breaker, valve, and solenoid are what sometimes stand between us and disaster.
Speaking for the flying flaming, you know. What.
@@ninja1inblack105 bills gotta get paid bro
In this difficult times I sometimes forget that there are federal agencies independent from lobbying (re: legalized bribery and corruption) that would prevent them from telling the truth. In other words, agencies that actually do their #@&^ jobs. Thank you for doing your civic duty, and making a fantastic, thorough and extensive presentation.
Well, make sure to vote against Trump if you want any of that to happen. Trump has actively dismantled most of OSHA and the oversight committees that deal with oil spills and regulatory forces to prevent accidents like this.
@@evolicious I bet you believed that lie the dems pulled saying Trump was defunding the CDC during this pandemic. How'd that Muller investigation go? OH...you mean it was the DEMs working with the Russians? The Democrats RIGGED the 2016 election and STILL LOST. How about those bribes biden sent to the Ukraine and was caught red handed? Biden is the one you have to look out for. He'll sell your job to the lowest bidder overseas in a heartbeat. It's GLORIOUS. I can't wait for another 4 years of Trump.
@@BaronFeydRautha trump tried to shut down the CSB... wonder why he'd try shutting down oversight agencies. maybe having a businessman in charge of business regulations is a bad idea.
@@marsing69 And look at what has happened. When he did that and left the Paris Accords The US has been leading the world in emissions and have invested huge amounts into green energy. Almost as if having a businessman in charge of business is good for business. BUSINESS PEOPLE. LOL Do you see Trump as an actual "Lord Business"?
@@marsing69 The dems put Monsanto executives on the FDA...what are you getting at?
That's why I always lick my 9vt batteries before I put in my smoke detectors
Imagine that statement in the narrator's voice.... "But the technician assembling the blowout preventer did not perform a critical step - he did not lick the terminals of the 9v battery before snapping it into the computer module, resulting in the installation of a defective 9v battery into one of the pods"
wait, the failure of the 9v battery was good because it kept the coil, which was wired wrong, from turning on. Because the 9v failed, the shear ram was activated.
We have calibrated elbows for bolts, and calibrated tongues for juice. But be careful. We ain't calibrated for to much juice.
@Runna 7 Yip. The tongue is calibrated for temp to. But like juice be careful.
@@volvo09 The USAF would call that a "carded item"! A Direct Safety Violation. A DSV! "You going to jail BOY!"
Excellently researched, produced, and presented video. Thank you for providing a clear and unbiased report of this terrible tragedy. As an oil and gas engineer, this helps me understand the design and operational flaws, so that I can take knowledgeable action to prevent such tragedies in the future.
"Sustainable energy", ha, first nuclear was rejected, now comes natural gas, there is no way to get to the point where renewables fully offset the more conventional sources without some type of transition, something environmentalists have been fighting tooth and nail, just look at hydroelectric or the protests against geothermal.
mlogaN writeS I will make sure to burn some rubber tires for u
Do you think the whole platform really combusted like it did in the animation? That was crazy, you would be ashes before you knew what happened.
@@eccentricthinker142 you are so we tall did
@ironhorzmn you are so we tall did. mr high 20 iq score
They need to make dramatic videos like this covering regular everyday mistakes. Like someone cracking their phone screen.
FreakingThomas7 ha
I want to hire this guy to narrate a day in my life.
Trent Tulpo its comes at the cost of everyday for the rest of your life will have an industrial disaster happen with you at the center
@@caedisnightingale5575 Time to hit the drawing board!
That would be really hilarious
I've been hearing the narrator voice in my head lately before I do something stupid
🤣🤣
"It was then, when Steven said "Hold my beer" ..... "
its a premonition
That voice in my brain is still set to ChubbyEmu, but this narrator is also a great alternative setting. Imagine if the channels collabbed O.O
"The ramifications of his mistake would not be evident for days to come"
Man, both the 27 volt battery and one of the solenoid valves were miswired. That's so extremely unfortunate, my goodness.
It was so broken that it worked
@@wahidtrynaheghugh260 *partially. Still though, it's not good to rely on one failure to fix another failure.
@@wahidtrynaheghugh260 approx 5million of barrels spilled into the Gulf of Mexico would say otherwise.
"Unfortunate", my ass! It was sheer incompetence. This entire debacle could have been prevented by (what should have been) the standard practice of performing a bench test on a newly-assembled electronic component. Literally a 15-minute effort would have prevented *everything* else that followed. There are zero valid excuses here.
I make so many redundant checks in working with microelectronics so I don't waste a $2 part. How such mistakes at such a significant level happen is beyond me.
so much for redundant systems...
Redundant incompetence trumps redundant safety systems.
actually as they mentioned, the failure allowed the secondary failure to actually allow the system to work. BUT by then it was too late as the pressure caused the buckling which made the sheare not able to cut the pipe.
Should've put a white pod in there.... They work at least...
@@ichaukan Well, looks like I have a new "best tombstone quote ever".
Only by fucking up four times in a row, did the quad redundant system even function as intended, and even then, it didn't work.
I was living near Tampa Florida when this happened. When the wind was from the north west you could smell the oil burning from the rig hundreds of miles away.
Jesus
We should keep it in the ground.
@@shadetreader Unfortunately, fossil fuels are the best power we've got until we erase the idiotic social stigma and bureaucratic stranglehold on nuclear energy
@@shadetreader If we “keep it in the ground” what will you propose as an alternative. It would result in massive upset to the entire worlds population to end oil production. I won’t go into it here, but every proposed alternative to the use of oil and gas has big problems to overcome. I do truly look forward to the augmentation of the use of oil, gas and coal with safe clean resources. But fossil hydrocarbons and the products made from them will not be replaced in our life times. I think that we can develop means of transporting goods and people without fossil fuels, but it will not be soon. As for the incredible array of things made from fossil hydrocarbons there is no way in heaven or hell we can replace them. I don’t mean to be a downer but you need to really research the results of “keeping it in the ground”. Just the lack of fertilizer would cause unbelievable famine on a world wide basis. Go, do some research, find out what is truly in store for the entire world with out fossil hydrocarbons. Then come back with an informed opinion and hopefully a solution to the issues.
Lies. I was there too. You could smell no such thing.
I love the sound effect of the oil and fluid flowing.
general information: 0:07 CSB launched an investigation: 0:44 diagram of oil well and how it should look: 1:19 preventing "kicks" or an oil rush incident: 2:10 what actually happened in the deetpwater horizon incident 3:39 AMF/deadman explanation 5:37 what CSB found in their investigation 8:50 conclusion & affects 10:16 credits 10:45
Its an eleven minute video.. noone needs this.
@@bepowerificationok... it was for an assignment so I used it for myself
11:00 at your mom's house 11:30 ratio
These step-by-step breakdowns of all the mistakes and flaws that contributed to the disaster are excellent, thank you. All the failures in that blowout preventer are amazing. Pretty obvious that the people responsible for installing and maintaining it were just going through the motions. They can't have done any tests after installation for all those miswires and drained batteries to remain undetected.
This was pretty embarrassing for everyone involved. I remember when every day they came up with another method of sealing the leak without success.
I love how the music changes to darker theme every time the "black hydrocarbons" flow somewhere
The Hollywood adaptation of this disaster is scarier than any "horror" movie I've ever seen, because, the people the film portrayed really were climbing through the twisted, burning, claustrophobic wreckage to save each other and themselves after the explosion. Ugh, my heart panics just thinking about it. To anyone who was involved, to their families and friends, my sincerest condolences go out to you for having to live through that nightmare.
Good deep explanations! A small wiring fault drains the battery and redundancy was spoiled! Good to learn!
Both redundancies were spoiled from wiring mistakes. Which made it seem ever more negligent.
There should have been battery monitoring which would have seen the battery draining
So let me get this straight this who disaster was caused by a presure drop inside the anular space on the BOP and a miswired solinod valve.
Yep. On those oil rigs, one thing screws up the tiniest bit, you're f**ked.
There were a bunch of things. You are supposed to test equipment and keep it maintained. Lots of stuff on first testing can be found to be a complete mess, it's just natural at some point someone makes a mistake. The checking is supposed to catch that so you have 2 issues, the wiring and lack of inspection/maintenance. It is really crazy both systems failed though, that is extremely rare.
It was more of a result of breach of multiple safety systems. Clearly defence in depth was applied but due to multiple failures in human actions and instruments it allowed for a critical path that pierced all layers and lead to the accident.
Solenoid* Not trying to be a grammar Nazi, just a genuine correction in what that thing is called
@@theshermantanker7043 thank you for the correction
I love these mechanical system names. Engineers have so much fun with names. AMF Deadman sounds like a hidden final boss
esjihn you’ll be surprised to hear these. O&G industry is very creative in naming things. PIG, Pig launcher, pig catcher, intelligent pig. (pipeline inspection gauge) Monkey board, Dog House, dog leg, half mule shoe, Christmas tree, dope, nipple, fish...etc
"Dongle" for the computer industry is my fav. No joke, at one of my jobs, the women in administration put together an official complaint to HR that the IT guys were saying the word dongle a lot-- they had no idea it was an actual computer term.
That solenoid mis-wiring is the type of thing I would have gotten a reprimand for in an undergrad electronics lab, much less in industry! Unbelievable that such an error was made at the professional level in crucial infrastructure. RIP to those who lost their lives due to negligence from higher-ups.
You know orginally they were going to charge BP officials with manslaughter? Instead a few years later they quietly let them all walk. 2 tier justice system at its finest.
I want this guy to tell me bedtime stories
i listen to these videos when I go to sleep, his monotone narration is kinda like asmr
"Once there was a mama bear, a papa bear and a baby bear, digging a 7 mile long oil pipe in the ocean..."
@@angelarch5352 I waited two years for this
@@user-ellievator pretty boring life eh? Waiting for comments?
@@SeltkirkTV yes. Will you tell me bedtime stories?
Is it weird that I enjoyed this more than the movie. The information, narration and animation is so on point
I lived in Mobile, Alabama at the time this happened. I remember taking part in a whole lot of beach cleanups, and my dad's restaurant taking a major hit in sales, and tourism falling off a cliff as a result. It took about 5 years to fully recover to ore-incident levels. Let's hope something like this never happens again.
Finally, animated scenes in a documentary that don't look like they have 5 polygons or particle effects made of 3 frames and 2 pixels.
I remember hearing about this on the news when it happened. I was about 8 or 9 at the time. I didn't understand why it happened, but I was very interested in Marine Biology at the time, and mainly felt bad for the creatures living in the ocean. I learned about it when I was a lot older, and learned of the negative economic and biological impact it had. And the people who died from it.... it never should have happened. So I am thankful the CSB investigated this as to enforce extra safety measures and training reccomendations to decrease the likelihood of an accident on this scale from reoccurring.
I was around that age as well, I also lived in Louisiana at that time. A couple hours from thr coast. It was sad. But I remember the company that makes Dawn stepped up and helped clean a ton of animals affected with oil.
Bops failed and weren't tested prior....
I just want to give kudos to the CSB. These investigation videos are extremely informative and well made, and an excellent way of communicating detail to the public. You guys do great work, keep it up!
Lol I knew the movie had some holes in it when you see debris just destroy the cutoff ram as it tries to cut the pipe.
Who designs "safety systems" which requires electricity and computers at sea floor at the time of accident? These should be made positive systems, so that control keeps closing force such as spring or pressure at bay and at the moment control is lost this force is released activating closing mechanism. There is no room for batteries, electricity and computers in the process of closing. These can be present at normal operation and monitoring side, but not at emergency mechanism side. Next is the pipe cutting ram. These should be shaped so that pipe can't escape from them. Like two Y's where pipe is at the "horn's" and encircles the pipe. Of course this is easy to say now, but this should be self-evident to engineers designing these safety systems. There are examples of this in other designs like railway air brakes with fail-safe features.
AnatoFIN Thank you for your post. Your thoughts echo mine exactly although you worded it much better than I could. I was absolutely shocked after learning from this video how all the supposedly redundant safety mechanisms were designed and then to boot, the fact that some of them weren’t even operational! With the possible consequences being so dire I just can’t fathom that any half decent engineer would think this was a good solution! You mentioned railway air brakes in your example while I was thinking of tractor trailer spring brakes (so I imagine they are very similar). In a transport truck/trailer, a significant and constant supply of air has to push a large spring back to release each brake. If anything at all happens to that air supply the spring immediately expands and applies each brake. I once had an incident that proved to me just how well this actually works. I was in my rig traveling down a hill on a highway in the winter time although it had been an exceptionally sunny day. Suddenly a moose darted out in front of me and I had to jump on the brakes. This caused a large sheet of ice that was on top of my trailer (that had had the sun shining on it all day so it was warming up and apparently was losing its grip to the roof of my trailer) to slide forward and to fall off the top of the trailer and down in between the rear of my cab and the front of the trailer, which resulted in severing my air lines to the trailer. The immediate loss of supply air to my trailer caused all of the spring brakes to apply and I came to a very abrupt stop. Obviously I was stuck there until I was able to repair my air lines so that I could send air to the trailer spring brakes again which would release those brakes. That, to me, is a very well thought out design and worked perfectly. I really want to believe that there is some unknown reason to people like me as to why a simpler, more reliable system like this wasn’t used on something as important as an oil rig. Otherwise the alternative is that there very well could be a whole lot of other potential time bombs out there just like the Deep Horizon waiting for that perfect storm to happen again!
It would be very hard to design a system that could passively cut a riser pipe like that. The force required is huge and as such hydraulics your only option.
Just go research the specifications for a spring powerful enough to crush a 1 inch thick walled 10 inch diameter pipe. Don't worry, I'll wait.
No point in researching that. No matter what is needed to cut through that pipe why couldn’t it be set up with a dead man switch? I was just pointing out how well designed tractor/trailer brakes are engineered because the consequences of those failing have the potential to be catastrophic. Obviously I am not alone in understanding why a similar system can’t be used for an oil well.
It technically was a deadman switch, that is, if power is lost from the rig, it automatically shears the pipe. The real question would be how to design an accumulator such that instead of needing to be opened to actuate the ram, it would have to be held shut to prevent the ram from activating. I can see why this design was chosen, what with how if it was wired correctly it should be quadruple redundant, and considering the fact that having a shear ram deploy accidentally would cost millions of dollars to get the well running again.
The mot important lesson I got from this disaster was the importance of testing safety systems, like the blowout prevented, to confirm that they will actually work when an accident occurs.
You can design and engineer the perfect system, but you introduce two ingredients, man and money, it's no longer perfect.
BIG Dave Man and money. The two elements that will always fuck everything up.
BIG Dave America = could be Perfect System. trump= Man with money...
And now America is better than ever. Amazing.
@@ChazzyG6 2 years later, you look like a fucking idiot right now
nah... you just introduce engineers into an equation and that's the end of it
I am truly thankful for these videos to watch. I love how they explain the problem, what we did wrong or what was wrong with the equipment that is people overlooked. Working in a chemical plant you always have to remember that almost anything can happen and while working their any day could possibly be your last. And these videos show that no matter what you should double then triple check everything you do. And these videos prove that to us not just in America, but anywhere in the world
You guys have a truly talented media team. This was easy to follow and now I know how this disaster happened.
Great, simple, clear explanation. Good job to the producers and the USCSB for being so open and frank about it.
Amazing animation and excellent explanation! Very well produced and narrated also. One of the best accident reconstruction videos IMHO. Thank you.
I already knew all the terminology (mud, blow out preventor, bore, etc..) from previous videos. I'm learning!
I keep binge watching these types of videos from t his channel. For some reason I find it extremely interesting, and I've honestly learned a lot about different types of dangers that I can keep myself and others safe from. Everything from chemicals, unbalanced pressure and and all sorts of stuff.
Don't know if anyone is reading these comments but WoW!! Thank you all, for your hard work, time, efforts & results. Wonderful channel, I'm hooked 🤗🌻
Absolutely brilliant and wish was shown initially on the news etc rather than the conflicting and biased reports. Really effective for getting the message across. Thanks
ive watched like 10 of these what am i doing
nothing wrong with that, theese vids hella fire
they're so good
You are educating yourself on proper workplace safety, which may save your life or the lives of others one day.
This thought has been in the back of my mind for so many videos now lol
@@hannes2211 hehe
PB: “we’re so sorry this happened, now let us continue drilling in your waters lol”
This is the best and most concise video about the whole incident. Everything explained well.
Thank you for this excellent explanation of a most terrible disaster. I hope are drilling industry has learned much from this disaster.
I just wanna know who they hired to wire that thing and how they failed so miserably at doing so. To miswire that much takes a lot of blatant ignorance.
you're right, assuming it was ignorance and not deliberate miswiring to prevent accidental shearing of the pipe ($$$).
@@mikerope5785 Probably just manufactured in Mexico. Outsourced/overseas workers are the lazy union worker stereotype on steroids. They don't give a shit about anything, especially something as minor as using the correct gauge or color of wire. Happens time and time again in the aerospace industry... the company spends hundreds of millions of dollars to build a site outside of the country so they don't have to pay American engineers. Well, you get what you pay for and the shit has to get rebuilt in the US cause it's a heaping pile of shit. It's fine though, cause the overseas workers don't complain and they're happy to get 10k a year even though an American engineer in the same position should be getting 125k plus vacation, medical, retirement, etc. It's a blatant raping of the country and people wonder why 5 million barrels of oil get dumped in the sea, or an airliner takes an uncontrolled flight straight into the ground.
@@user-cb1ln8vc8d The Deepwater Horizon was manufactured in South Korea you moron
@@KaaneDragonShinobi Not the AMF, idiot. It was manufactured by Cameron International of Houston, Texas with their several plants in Mexico/South America. Miswiring is seriously below the newest domestic technicians, but you get what you pay for.
@@user-cb1ln8vc8d The L has been taken on the manufacturing. Still colors American management, oversight, and operators as lazy and greedy despite your high levels of nationalistic confidence in the average American engineer. It's not like an American company signing off on badly designing/implementing engines and software on the Boeing 737 Maxes caused hundreds of deaths, right? But it all starts at the top. The workers do what they're told to make a paycheck. Outsourcing and cutting corners to save money is par for the course in every major heavy industry. Even if American engineers were somehow inherently better in every way, you aren't going to change the culture that causes these disasters by switching them out. If anything you'll just make companies cut more corners since American engineers have a bit more leverage to demand more in payment. They also have unions roflmao
Thank you!!!!!! This needs to be seen by all residents of the Gulf in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and even Texas! Moreover, it should be seen by the world!!!!!!
@@tripplefives1402 It's about time that mankind started taking care of this beautiful planet because any more negligence and mishandling leads to destruction and contamination of a most delicate environment our HOME = THE EARTH. Capitalists say "screw the environment we want our MONEY, MONEY, MONEY, MONEY .. MONEYYYYYY"..... MONAAAAAA!!!
@@tripplefives1402 WOW! How arrogant of you to say so! AND Richard without the beautiful planet you would cease to even exist - the planet provides us with everything we need .. it's MANKIND'S GREED AND EVIL WAYS THAT HAVE DESTROYED HER
@@tripplefives1402 I understand your point to a certain extent but surely you can see how through man's greed it has basically caused the destruction of the Earth (slowly dying)... The oil should never, ever have been removed from the Earth as it is there to lubricate the tectonic plates... look at fracking that's also destroyed the landscape by punching giant holes in the Earth...
@@tripplefives1402 Wasn't a theory Richard was stating a fact!!
@@tripplefives1402 😂 you are an absurd human.
i worked on a oil rig for days. you bond with your coworkers knowing we would all risk our lives for each other
Who is here after seeing SpongeBob experience a deadly delta P event?
What the heeeeeeel. So much redundancy was failed! That blowout preventer had almost too much redundancy. But how does EVERYTHING fail?
+AaronLow1 Mistakes during installation and nobody bothered to double-check the backup systems. Basically: Complacency and wishful thinking.
+fromkentucky I was thinking the same thing. They never ran a drill to make sure the emergency back up systems worked and would do there job?
+AaronLow1 Lack of maintenance and inspection was the downfall here. Along with the string of bad decisions made by BP leading up to this event.
+AaronLow1 As others have said - complacency and lack of regulation. The only way to combat complacency and wilful mismanagement is to give the regulators the power they need to hold operators to an appropriate standard.
It's what we call in the industry "the swiss cheese" all the holes line up and the shit hits the fan.
Fantastic visualization and explanation!
I seriously like these videos. I don’t have any purpose for watching but it’s so well produced that it’s entertaining!
I can't stop watching these. His voice is so soothing.
Amazing animations with good explanation, thank you for the Video.
The narrator sounds just so damn familiar haha.
+Wakas “High” Life Forensic Files comes to mind
You'll find that there are a few narrators that are used in many documentaries. After all, a narrator needs to have the kind of voice you can listen to for an hour or so without it becoming grating or droning.
Sounds like that guy from the cheaters or "Magician Tricks reveled"
+ Karl Dilkington --> _Forensic Files_ is narrated by Peter Thomas. Sheldon Smith narrates this.
+Wakas Life --> The narrator of this is Sheldon Smith and he probably sounds familiar because his voice has been all over radio & TV for the past 30+ years. You might remember his voice from commercials he's done for companies like Maxwell House coffee or Green Giant vegetables. He's also done movie trailers such as for the movie _Sentinel_, _Fog of War_, and _Anger Management_ to name a few. Not to mention the hundreds or thousands of political ads he's done for various candidates running for this office or that office.
Way better than any explanation that Hollywood and the News Media put out.
7:50 “I don't know how, but you used the wrong formula and got the correct answer”
Basically, everything that was supposed to save the rig from catastrophe failed. Every device designed to prevent a catastrophe failed. Good job guys.
Truly mind boggling that you can actually have that many latent failures and negligent habits/checks occur all in the perfect order to arrive at that sad result. I mean it's not just one or two things here😨
There's an 'electrician' out there somewhere who needs to hang his head in shame.
@xellossaxon we are in CIS think same way, but about us and others
@xellossaxon Well said, but americans will not believe in truth and facts, when they can just pretend that they are the greatest nation in the world, bringer of freedom to mankind and just make up alternative facts. They liberated so many countries, like Vietnam (woops, they actually didn't, because they couldn't win the war, despite killing all civilians they met), Afghanistan and Iraq, which are great examples of american freedom. They won over the best brains after winning world war 2 and entered an era of great improvement and lifestyle and since then have forgotten to make any further progress. You either find 50 year old fabrication plants or new plants owned by outside of america companies, completely stripped of any safety and environmental protection regulations, because capitalism demands so. The country has been in an downwards spiral for the longest time and it's now amidst the Corona Virus crisis hitting rock bottom. It will also never recover from this, since the two party political system will surely guarantee another term for the orange clown the whole world laughs about. In a couple years china will own all of america (basically already does) and Mexico will finish the wall, to prevent americans from seeking refuge there.
While yes it is a mistake to reverse the connections for such important solenoids, there is more than the electrician/technician to blame. The shears were not able to successfully cut the pipe anyway due to the uneven pressure bending. There could have been a more reliable mechanical shearing mechanism that better surrounded the pipe. The emergency system could have been designed to operate only under a signal interruption, a dead man's switch. If that were the case, the faulty wired solenoids would have been easily caught during installation because the shears would be normally forced closed unless the solenoids are commanded to keep them open. Anyway, the primary lesson being don't cut corners on safety and reliability measures when poking huge geological forces.
I’m gonna show my mom this. this is so detailed!
One of the best narrators in the world.
KZhead: “Please just one more time” Me: “Ugh fine. But a quicky cuz I got lots to do”
What
I love the sound for the reversed polarity *WHAAAYYYMIIIEEE WHAAAYYYYMIIIEE*
Those sound effects alone were worth all eleven minutes of my time.
I have no idea why I'm watching these but they are amazingly interesting
I still feel bad for the families of the eleven men that lost their lives on that night. Those families and the crew members that were injured are the ones we need to remember. Video does not list number of killed and injured (most times they list the numbers and even names). I had several friends on the Deep Water Horizon that fateful night. GO NAVY!
We have to kick this fossil fuel habit, fossil fuels have killed millions in war through out the world and is quickly killing the planet .It didn't just kill 11.
Humans: The species that traveled to the moon, but un-able to seal a pipe.
Nobody went to the moon
@@justinandrewhampton lmao ok bud
@@justinandrewhampton Yeah, eighteen guys did. Twelve landed.
Amazing detail thank you!
This is so detailed. I got show my mom this!
That's crazy that the two coils were wired the wrong polarity at 7:37, but because the UPS battery backup failed that night on one of the coils (and fortunately the one which was wired correctly), it happened to be able to close.
The scariest thing to me is the valve that was improperly made only working because on failure in it canceled out another
This channel is quickly becoming my favorite government agency.
This is really great work.
CSB has an easy to understand video on the deepwater horizon blow-out preventer. What's most shocking is that both critical emergency systems were simply mis-wired. That simply shouldn't happen. As the BOP was commissioned, these errors should have been identified and fixed.
This! As a control systems guy myself, I was wondering how mis-wired valves and some wiring error that drained the battery (?!?) could have been missed. My initial reaction is that the people who performed, witnessed and signed off on the commissioning should be "shot". But then, who might have had their hands in those control pods, for what reason, after the thing left the shop but before it was put in service (assuming here that commissioning takes place on dry land)?
***** : I understand that the mis-wirings were done during BOP maintenance many years after it was put in service (some just before Macondo), and it was not adequately tested after that maintenance. It is not clear where the solenoids were rewired, on the rig or onshore.
The drill pipe buckled because it was improperly installed. And people who worked on the rig knew that and were terrified of what might happen.
Fundamentally unsafe blow out preventer design. This was a disaster waiting to happen even when installed "correctly" The drill pipe should not be physically capable of moving out of the way of the shear rams, even if twisted into a pretzel. More shockingly, both deadman units were also wired incorrectly, and only BP's lack of maintenance saved the disaster from being worse. If both 9v batteries had been live in the functioning deadman, The shear rams would never have operated at all. Thats...I have no words. The only way to not notice the wiring problems with the deadman would be to never have tested its functions before putting it on the ocean floor. I would blame corporate for not letting the rig workers do their job properly, and not providing them with safe equipment.
should have got chinese people to work on it... clearly the americans cant do it properly
You obviously have never worked with Chinese.
BP is a british company...
SpenzOT Whose foolish management put their trust in an American designed and manufactured BPO safety system run by Halliburton an American company.
This is so detailed! I got show my mom this.
great documentary; great YT channel.
I love the sound of the oil rushing up the pipe
very good imformation
Incredible how many problems stacked on failures stacked on misted problem lead to a complete failure of the blowout preventer. With all the redundant system with the back up systems you would never think it could fail. Clearly the human element missing the wiring problems and all failed. Excellent work on the video as always
Such clear explanations. Damn!
This kind of stuff reminds me of that show Chernobyl. So many minuscule things amounting to catastrophe. How do you prevent this kind of stuff? Or is this something inevitable and we just have to experiment with the consequences before we get better?
All we are really concerned about is that the builders/designers of the blow-out valve, (Halliburton) don't get held responsible in any way!
Money talks.
@@ptonpc And Dick Cheney makes a few phone calls.
Halliburton only was involved with the cement job, they don't build BOP'S. That's somebody like Cameron iron, or a number of other big specialty machine shop company's that make that type of equipment, valves, and tools.
@@kellypenrod2979 And from my experience in the machine shop industry, it probably got jobbed out to some smaller unknown shop and was never fully tested.
Why the designer? It was the people who built it
Very good explanation. Together with the mistakes the crew and managemen caused they were doomed.
Great video!
This is a superb animation of the BP/Halliburton/Trans-Ocean disaster BUT I'm rather surprised that the fact that they only used six spacers instead on the 21 spacers necessary in keeping the "Halliburton" cement centered and evenly spaced throughout the bore as one of the most likely contributing factors. You also didnt mention that Schlumberget engineers left the rig after they were overruled on an inspection on the cement's condition and hardening. Had the cement been tested and analyzed thoroughly, this wouldn't have happened. Yet another perfect example of profits over people/environment/safety by The Big crimcorfednewsgov outfits around the globe. The consequences? We're still learning them and will continue for centuries to come. Can anyone say...Exxon Valdez 1989? BP had a larger hand in that disaster than even Exxon and like BP...Exxon is fighting to keep every dime from reaching the people who won it from them in a settlement reduced to 10% of the original payout of about 6,000,000,000.00 by the supreme court of corporate jesters.
Nice video, thank you for the information. However, I have one issue with it, in the opening lines of the video it says that the Deepwater Horizon Blowout was the “largest oil spill in US history.” As I understand it, the estimated loss of oil from the Deepwater Horizon was 4.9 million barrels of oil. However, the estimated loss of oil from the Lakeview Gusher in 1910 was 9.0 million barrels of oil. Maybe the Deepwater Horizon Blowout was the largest off shore oil spill, I don’t know, but it clearly was not the “largest oil spill in US history.” I’m not saying that the Deepwater Horizon Blowout was a trivial oil spill, but this is a simple fact has been miss reported over and over again unit everyone just accepts it as "a fact.". I guess if it’s said often enough it becomes fact…
I think that must be the case. It's also because of the extensive damage that the oil caused for the ocean
200 million!!!
Maybe it has more to do with the effects of the spill, rather than sheer volume of oil being spilled? Offshore rigs going down causes quite a lot more damage to a wider area than land-based spills...
Sorry but that is a mistake. 200 million gallons of oil released in 87 days; BP's deepwater horizon incident is in fact the largest spill in US History.
Barrels and gallons are not the same thing, Cory.
Man, they really blazed it up for that 4/20
I love how YT tagged this. And the first thing it says is about the oil spill. Not loss of life.
I’m actually watching this movie riiight now! Whoa! It’s insane! Watching from here!
Now I get what’s going on! Thanks for sharing this!
Morena G. What’s the name of the movie?
Larry Deepwater Horizon, the same name as the rig
Morena G......hi!
So could they reshape the blind-shear ram to be circular like a cigar cutter instead of a flat plane, then sit the piping in the ram? If you could do that, the pipe could buckle all it wants because the ram will keep it in position while cutting it.
Land Shark 2020 also the was ram made out of chineseium and pipe was made in America.
so it was not the depth but the lack of safety and triple checks etc.... deep sea can be safe but you have to do what you stated.. I love your videos.. thank you. It shows how dangerous all these jobs are and how much we should appreciate these people that contribute to the function of our society
[sound of an explosion] when the thing blows up was definitely good subtitles. I would have never known the explosion made the sound of the explosion.
The drilling fluid-mud is the first line of prevention to control formation pressure. If the fluid density isn't enough to balance the formation pressure a kick will occur (influx oil and gas) into the well bore right? Why didn't personnel catch this influx immediately as excess displaced drilling fluid in the mud pits? Bad communication?
Because corporate would effectively hang them if they didn't keep up with the schedule. DWH was far behind schedule at that point and draining money like a seave...
One word: Capitialism
@Harrison _ They are doing pretty good right now. Crashed the economies of the west, took hong kong, handled the virus.
@Harrison _ what kind of answer is this?
@@padathir don't act like communism doesn't do the same too. Need I remind you about Chernobyl and how it was made worse by the Soviet Union trying to cover it up?
it took the "drilling mud" and oil almost an hour to flow from the bottom of the sea floor to the rig? i thought it shot out like a gun almost, fast as hell?
Very good explanation
Excellent Video
Multi-billion dollar companies & projects... and not one but multiple wiring mistakes?! Bloody hell I just shake me head...I can only reckon that the BOP system must NOT of been tested before being commissioned/sunk to ocean floor. For such a system that not only is expensive... but carries a HUGE political/environmental potential backlash upon failure, I'd sure as hell would want to make sure it functioned as intended... I do not work in petrol industry, so I do not know drilling specifics and there are some things I do not understand... however I DO know that batteries have a finite life. I do not reckon a BOP is something readily accessible in which one could do P.M. Seems to me a lot of the BOP design needs to be taken back to the drawing board. My thoughts: ᴥDrill pipe should be physically restrained or guided to centre of annulus space, should be achievable without blocking annulus flow ᴥBlind sheer blades should cover *entire* width of annulus space, so _if_ there *is* pipe deviation from centre, the sheer is still 100% effective. ᴥBlind sheer actuation should *NOT* be dependent on batteries, capacitors, or other energy storage systems susceptible to potential failure - I'd design it in such a way that very strong mechanical energy (such as springs, or levers and heavy weights) are what force the blades shut... and an umbilically fed solenoid and/or hydraulic pressure is what holds the blades back from closing. This way, total failure of the platform/BOP control centre results in the blades sheering automatically via gravitational or elastic energy. Redundancy of systems in this scenario would be focused on *preventing* the blades from sheering the pipe, _instead_ of the opposite. ᴥA BOP control centre/computer, located *in* *the* *platform*, to handle just the BOP... - Battery backup, easily accessible for P.M. - Monitoring of annulus space for presence of substances from 'kicks' - Monitoring of all other platform operations & communications (to evaulate status of platform) ᴥSystem in place on platform to divert/handle 'kick' substances in the case they reach the platform. There should be *NO* reason for these to spray all over the platform. --------- I'm no super expert... so those are just some things that came to my mind. Possibilities for failure and degradation of materials can never be eliminated 100%, the goal is to try to minimise the consequences of such.
Of course it was tested - By fools who did not carry out the testing correctly. As for the person AnatoFIN who suggested (above in these comments) that the system should "keeps closing force such as spring or pressure at bay and at the moment control is lost this force is released activating closing mechanism" - That might not work well, since it would require layers of other control equipment to prevent it becoming unstable and triggering a frequent destruction of the drilling pipe (which itself is a major disaster costing millions). There WAS an automatic system, and it was incorrectly installed: The system contains several layers of options for automatic sealing of the well. It has worked and been subject to an enormous amount of testing, or none of these system would ever get installed. (You might as well say that aircraft should not retract their wheels in case their undercarriage control system fails - ludicrous!) Controls engineers know that safety integrity level certified control systems need to be simple at each level of their function, and so (crucially) testable, for all scenarios. In this case, according to the CSB, the actual design of the system appears to have had inherent defects (the buckling of the pipe problem became a big issue preventing ram sealing) which was not previously taken account of, even if it was known. But at the end of the day, the 'little matter' of the failure to test the fail safe dead-man system correctly (and so reveal the wiring faults) was a contributory cause of this avoidable accident. HUMAN ERROR not so much the design (and bad decisions as it appears at upper management level) caused this event. "To err is human." :(
what a cluster f@#k.
Sounds like a real life , ON DEADLY GROUND !!
That kick fluid rise animation sounds like the end result of eating Indian food. Then the mud comes down the pipe. Pretty accurate representation.