Nine of the worlds leading oil and gas companies – BG Group, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Petrobras, Shell, Statoil and Total – announced the launch of the Subsea Well Response Project (SWRP), an initiative designed to enhance the industrys capability to respond to subsea well control incidents.
Acting on the recommendations of the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers' (OGP) Global Industry Response Group (GIRG) the companies have signed an Interim Joint Development Agreement, with Shell as the operator.
The project team will:
Design a capping toolbox with a range of equipment to allow wells to be shut in.
Design additional hardware for the subsea injection of dispersant.
Further assess the need for and feasibility of a containment system for shared use.
"OGP [GIRG] has brought forward a comprehensive set of recommendations for intervention on flowing wells following a well control incident. SWRP will now work to deliver on these objectives over the course of 2011. Designing systems that can be deployed effectively in different regions of the world is an immense challenge but member companies have assigned leading specialists to the task," Lewis said.
The Subsea Well Response Project (SWRP) is a not-for-profit joint initiative, and the project team consists of technical experts and senior management from nine of the major oil companies.SWRP's objective is to manage the selection and design of caps and associated equipment to enhance industry capabilities to respond to well control incidents, and recommend a model for international storage, maintenance and deployment of this equipment.
SWRP is operated by Shell, on behalf of the nine member companies, and its headquarters is in Stavanger, Norway.
