Deepwater Horizon : A Systems Analysis of the Macondo Disaster / Earl Boebert, James M. Blossom.
2017
TN871.3 .B64 2016eb
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Title
Deepwater Horizon : A Systems Analysis of the Macondo Disaster / Earl Boebert, James M. Blossom.
Author
ISBN
9780674545267
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2017]
Copyright
©2016
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (280 p.) : 64 halftones, 8 line illustrations
Item Number
10.4159/9780674545267 doi
Call Number
TN871.3 .B64 2016eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
363.11/9622338190916364
Summary
On April 20, 2010, the crew of the floating drill rig Deepwater Horizon lost control of the Macondo oil well forty miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. Escaping gas and oil ignited, destroying the rig, killing eleven crew members, and injuring dozens more. The emergency spiraled into the worst human-made economic and ecological disaster in Gulf Coast history. Senior systems engineers Earl Boebert and James Blossom offer the most comprehensive account to date of BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Sifting through a mountain of evidence generated by the largest civil trial in U.S. history, the authors challenge the commonly accepted explanation that the crew, operating under pressure to cut costs, made mistakes that were compounded by the failure of a key safety device. This explanation arose from legal, political, and public relations maneuvering over the billions of dollars in damages that were ultimately paid to compensate individuals and local businesses and repair the environment. But as this book makes clear, the blowout emerged from corporate and engineering decisions which, while individually innocuous, combined to create the disaster. Rather than focusing on blame, Boebert and Blossom use the complex interactions of technology, people, and procedures involved in the high-consequence enterprise of offshore drilling to illustrate a systems approach which contributes to a better understanding of how similar disasters emerge and how they can be prevented.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Aug 2021)
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Record Appears in
Table of Contents
Frontmatter
Contents
Foreword
1. Introduction
2. Controlling Macondo
3. From Rig to Well
4. Weighing Macondo's Risks
5. The Struggle with Macondo
6. Planning the Production Tail Phase
7. The Production Casing Plan
8. The Cementing Plan
9. The Test and Displacement Plan
10. A Reconstructed Plan
11. The Systems of the Horizon
12. Up to the Edge
13. The Final Day
14. Going Over
15. The Lessons of Macondo
Afterword: Evidence, Reports, and Conventional Wisdom
Appendix: Technical Notes
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
Contents
Foreword
1. Introduction
2. Controlling Macondo
3. From Rig to Well
4. Weighing Macondo's Risks
5. The Struggle with Macondo
6. Planning the Production Tail Phase
7. The Production Casing Plan
8. The Cementing Plan
9. The Test and Displacement Plan
10. A Reconstructed Plan
11. The Systems of the Horizon
12. Up to the Edge
13. The Final Day
14. Going Over
15. The Lessons of Macondo
Afterword: Evidence, Reports, and Conventional Wisdom
Appendix: Technical Notes
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index