Open AccessThe Macondo Oil Field Disaster
Author(s) -
Michael C. Lynch
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of disaster research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.332
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1883-8030
pISSN - 1881-2473
DOI - 10.20965/jdr.2011.p0482
Subject(s) - petroleum engineering , petroleum industry , offshore drilling , variety (cybernetics) , submarine pipeline , drilling , business , forensic engineering , oil field , oil spill , offshore oil and gas , environmental science , risk analysis (engineering) , engineering , natural resource economics , geology , computer science , oceanography , environmental engineering , economics , mechanical engineering , artificial intelligence
TheMacondo oil rig explosion and subsequent oil spill was the worst disaster in the US offshore oil industry since 1969. Although some worried that it reflected the greater challenges of deepwater drilling for which the industry was not prepared, investigations have shown that a variety of decisions made, primarily during the drilling of the well, caused the blowout and explosion. Apparently, a corporate culture of cost cutting led to many of these decisions, and it suggests that human failures, both in senior levels where culture is set, and at the lower levels where it affects operations, are the primary challenges that need to be overcome to reduce the likelihood of future disaster.