New Well Containment Simulator for GOM

Published Sep 25, 2015 8:43 AM by The Maritime Executive

Wood Group has been awarded a contract with Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC) to provide an operator training simulator, supporting training for containment in the event of a deepwater well control incident in the Gulf of Mexico.

Under the contract, the simulator will be developed by Wood Group Kenny using its proprietary software and will be located at the MWCC shore base near Corpus Christi, Texas. It will be used to train operators who will be involved in the deployment of MWCC’s well containment equipment if capture operations are required for an incident response.

Bob MacDonald, CEO of Wood Group Kenny, says: “Providing the technology to help train those responsible for tackling well control incidents in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico is a very important project. We will utilize our extensive experience in software and simulation to support this safety effort.”

The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement released its first ever annual report earlier this year noting that the number of incidents occurring on the outer continental shelf (OCS) saw an overall decline in the period of 2011-2014 compared to 2007-2010.

A majority of major incidents were determined to be caused, at least in part, by human performance factors, including communications, training and equipment operation difficulties.

“Part of managing risk is monitoring the trends we are seeing offshore, and gauging the effectiveness of our approach,” said Director Salerno. “We are pleased to see that some of the most serious incidents offshore, including fatalities, are decreasing. But our work is far from done. For example, the annual report observes an increase in loss of well control events. That’s troubling, given the potential for such incidents to have grave consequences.”