Annular blowout preventer

A lot has been discussed on the safety issues about working at an oil rig or well. Blowout preventer is meant to be the defense mechanism used when something goes wrong at an oil well.  The failure of a blowout preventer can result in a catastrophe.

The blowout preventers or BOPs have been used since 60s. The invention of BOPs has resulted in the avoiding oil gushers and blowouts.

Economically viable and advanced technologies have been introduced for the control mechanism. This has changed the face of off shore drilling systems leading to companies drilling in deeper waters. A system with 15,000 pounds per square inch gauge (psig) intervention capping systems has been introduced to handle extreme pressures at deeper wells. This technology is used when the blowout preventer fails to perform its functions.

This intervention capping stack system allows complete access to the wellbore. Thus, the well operator manages to repair the well or look into the mechanical condition of the well. Remote monitoring and diagnostic (RM&D) technologies have been introduced in the offshore drilling industry. This technology assists offshore drillers to increase the performance of the equipment, its safety and reliability. It optimizes the process efficiency by improving life cycle maintenance. This leads to reduction in downtime. Downtime is the time from the first breakdown to running of the machine in full capacity.

These technologies have been developed as a result of the focus on research and development on monitoring BOPs and gas handling capacities.

There has been progress in the defense mechanism and the blowout preventer. Annular blowout preventer is also known as “Hydril”. Annular blowout preventers cover the drill pipe even while it rotates during the drilling. It covers the drill string or non-cylindrical object like the ‘kelly.

Lot of research work has been done to help prevent accidents or blowouts at the oil well. This has helped making oil wells a safer place to work.