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Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill British Petroleum Company (BP) is one of the world's leading multinational Oil and Gas Company which is primarily located in London, UK. It has multiple service stations around the world. The main goal of this company is to provide consumers with fuel and energy. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, that began on April 20, 2010, is considered as one of the worst industrial disasters. It happened in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo il prospect in the Mississippi Canyon, a valley in the continental shelf, off the coast of Louisiana in the United States of America, causing the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. The oil well over which it was positioned was located on the seabed 1,522 metres below the surface and extended approximately 5,486 metres into the rock. On the night of April 20 a surge of natural gas blasted through a concrete core, which was freshly installed by a contractor company Halliburton in order to seal the well for later use. It later emerged through documents released by WikiLeaks that a similar incident had occurred on a BP-owned rig in the Caspian Sea in September 2008. Both cores were most likely too weak to withstand the pressure because they were composed of a concrete mixture that used nitrogen gas to accelerate curing. Once released by the fracture of the core, the natural gas traveled up to the rig's riser platform, where it ignited, killing 11 workers and injuring 17instantly. The rig capsized and sank on the moming of April 22, rupturing the riser, through which drilling mud had been injected in order to counteract the upward pressure of oil and natural gas. Without any opposing force, oil began to discharge into the gulf. The volume of oil escaping the damaged well-originally estimated by BP to be about 1,000 barrels per day but U.S. government officials claimed that it was more than 60,000 barrels per day. Although BP attempted to activate the nig's blowout preventer (BOP), a fail-safe mechanism designed to close the channel through which oil was drawn, the device malfunctioned. Forensic analysis of the BOP completed the following year determined that a set of massive blades known as blind shear ramsdesigned to slice through the pipe carrying oil—had malfunctioned because the pipe had bent under the pressure of the rising gas and oil. A 2014 report by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board claimed that the blind shear rams had activated sooner than previously thought and may have actually punctured the pipe. According to BP's September 2010 report, the accident started with a "well integrity failure". This was followed by a loss of control of the pressure of the fluid in the well. The "blowout preventer", a device which should automatically seal the well in the event of such a loss of control, failed to engage. Hydrocarbons shot up the well at an uncontrollable rate and ignited, causing a series of explosions on the rig.
Ethics in Workplace UHS00101 According to the final progress report from the Deepwater Horizon study group, 10 different techniques were used to try to plug the leak. This began with efforts to close the blowout preventer with a remotely operated vehicle. Successive efforts involved capturing oil spewing from the riser by lowering a top har over it. Next, engineers attempted to "kir the well by injecting heavy mud into the blowout preventer. All of these efforts failed. Finally, engineers were successful by bolting a sealing cap on top of the blowout preventer. This provided a temporary fix until engineers could pump heavy kill mud and cement into the well to reduce pressure at the well head and permanently seal off the flow paths. The leak began on 20 April. The well was capped on 15 July and it was permanently sealed on 19 September 2010. Thousands of birds, mammals, and sea turtles got coated with leaked oil. A December 2013 study of living dolphins in Barataria Bay, Louisiana found that roughly hall were extremely sick, many suffered from lung and adrenal disorders known to be linked to oil exposure. Some 1,400 whales and dolphins had been found stranded by the end of 2015. According to another 2014 study, up to 800.000 birds were thought to have died. Even individuals not directly contaminated by oil were affected. Alabama & Florida wildlife officials dug up thousands of turtle eggs and hatched them in a warehouse for later release on the Atlantic coast. By late 2012 some 1,700 turtles had been found dead. Animals that were found alive in the wake of the spill were transported to rehabilitation centres and after being cleaned and medically evaluated, were released into oil-free areas. The impacts on smaller species was more difficult to determine. Numerous species of fish and invertebrates spawned in the guit, and it was thought likely that some would succumb to the toxic effects of the oil. A 2014 study showed that the larvae of commercially important fish species, including tuna, likely developed heart defects after exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from the oil. It is not clear how much life on the sea bed has been affected. A research has produced images of mounds of dead organisms including corals, and has found areas where the ocean floor is coated in a dark brown slime about 4cm deep. A comprehensive survey of the sea bed has not been completed. The oil spil was mainly caused by concern about increased productivity for profits over safety and protection BP has continually denied the requests of a number of independent scientists to set up instruments on the ocean floor that could measure the rate of the leak more accurately, which raises ethical concems. Not only that, the U.S. government would want to ensure that the press and scientists had access to the spill site in order to provide public visibility of the effects of the spil and a source of reliable empirical information about the rate of leakage etc., but unfortunately just the opposite has been the standard. The New York Times reported an entire survey
الجامعة الوطنية | National Liniversity Department of Professional Development & Humanities College of Engineering Ethics in Workplace UHS00101 of incidents of the press being denied access to the site and its surrounding area, including one reporter being threatened with arrest by the U.S. Coastguard. The U.S. Government could of course have legitimate reasons for restricting press access, but one would hope that a government that claims to value transparency would also be transparent about their reasons for restricting this access. This raises important ethical questions about what circumstances justify a government or private company to restrict what information is made available to the public. There are no laws that exist simply to protect animal interests. U.S. law protects animals as property That means laws designed to protect animals exist only to protect the interests of their owners or the public "Most of the wild animals affected by the BP spill do not have any legal protection at all, and there is no penalty that can be imposed for suffocating them with oil, destroying their habitats and otherwise harming them," said Justin Goodman, a representative of PETA According to the President of the Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana, Billy Nungesser, the government's actual response to this catastrophe has been "embarrassing". He also expressed frustration about the fact that the government seems more concerned with emphasizing the fact that this is BP's fault than with actually assisting in the cleanup. However, as the investigation in the case of the Deep-water Horizon Oil spill proceeded, a series of reforms were made with regards to the underwater oil well operations. The world has learnt lessons from such disasters and in today in the era of the fourth industrial revolution innovations in technology aim to globally improve industry operations for a greener and cleaner planet. The concerned authorities have put rules and regulations in place for Blowout Preventer and Well Control. Operators have to comply with monitoring requirements, install remotely-controlled locks on surface BOP sealing rams, and surface BOPs on floating facilities. Rules also include independent third party regulatory body to verify and certify underwater oil well operations. There are other standards on structural analysis procedures, designs for floating production systems which are revised for more safety. Thus a wide range of improvements are brought in with the use of new technology for drilling, well-work over, subsea and surface blowout preventers, and other structural aspects of oil wells. Currently the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) throws light on the advances in Oil Spil Science that aid safer operations. The GNOME Suite forecasts and estimate where the oil from the gushing wellhead would end up. This helps in appropriate emergency responses. Further there are surveillance programs to monitor the waterways for accidental oil spills. Mechanisms are developed through which the oil spil toxicity can be evaluated to help implement measures to protect and restore the marine ecosystem. Thus this present technological disruption aims to bring a balance between energy development, environmental safety and protection of coastal communities, oceans, and workers.
1. Identify and explain any three ethical lapses/ issues in the case. (Mention the major ethical causes of the technical failures in about 350 words). 2. Describe any three the 'code of ethics' that engineers in this industry should have followed in order to observe safe operations of the oil rig. (Refer to code of ethics' from these professional bodies' to write your answer in about 350 words - {www.spe.org - code-of-conduct - petroleum engineers) {www.asme.org - mechanical engineers) {www.asce.org - civil engineers) {www.ieee.org - electrical engineers} {www.aiche.org - code-ethics - chemical engineers }) 3. Describe any two aspects of environmental impact of Deep Water horizon Oil Spill as is evident from the case. Briefly discuss any two technical advancements that will help reduce the negative impact in the future. (Describe the impact and technical advancements in about 250 words).