Drilling Process Safety

Michael Davis, B.S. Petroleum Engineering

• 25 years working mainly as a Drilling Engineer• Main experience:

– HTHP drilling– Deepwater drilling

• Subsequently trained in:– Communication– Team Building– Team Work– Team Psychology– Cognitive Function and Dysfunction

1

Drilling Process Safety

• Scholarship includes:– SEMS and API 754– 30 CFR 250 – O&G related API RPs– Macondo studies– Dr. Bea’s reports– Professor Hopkin’s reports– New Orleans trial reports– CSB reports

2

Drilling Process SafetyWhat is it?

3

4

Drilling Process Safety

Its more than watching each other’s backs. Its more than attention

to details.

Its more than just communication.

5

Drilling Process Safety

• Differs from Personal Safety

– in dynamic environments, events are not determined by anyone yet by everyone.

How anyone knows how everyone is doing?BROADCAST DOWNCAST

6

Drilling Process Safety

• BROADcast and The Adaptive Loop– Instead of a linear planning, we make decisions using a

feedback loop in a linear progression. • The loop starts with determining what our situation is. • As we take actions, we have to determine the effect of those

actions before making our next move. • The goal of each cycle is to improve our position, but we do not

know the direction in which we will move until we see what the situation offers. – In simple operations we can make this assessment on our own and yet in

dynamic environments, events are not determined by anyone but by everyone.» Hence the need for BROADcast

Drilling Process Safety• BROADcasting supports better risk based decision making

and mitigates past two major reforms’ shortcomings!

– Mandatory Well Control Training!– Unintended Consequence?

• Replacement Company Men

– Mandatory Negative Pressure Testing!– Unintended Consequence?

• Inducing kicks that cannot be killed

Segue= Focus on Accountability

7

Drilling Process Safety

Justice

Process Safety must focus on the process that enabled the person to cause or allow the

accident to happen.Having a just culture means that you’re making

effort to balance safety and accountability.

8

9

Drilling Process Safety

• Blameless Postmortems• It means that by investigating mistakes in a

way that focuses on the situational aspects of a failure’s mechanism and the decision-making process and even before in the design process of individuals proximate to the failure.

Drilling Process SafetyDeepwater Drilling is Trending

• Traditional Deepwater work

– Teamwork (people/soft) skills

– Mainly drilling oil zones• Oil is much less dangerous than gas in drilling• Gas drilling requires a different skillset than oil drilling

10

Drilling Process SafetyDeepwater Drilling is Trending, continued…

• Misnomer that DWD has been HTHP

• Deepwater Drilling Engineers need retooling

– HTHP engineers refined for teamwork skillsets– Deepwater engineers refined for HTHP skillsets– Both must be refocused on dynamic risk level and

communication and behavioral discipline

11

Drilling Process SafetyDeepwater Drilling is Trending, continued…

• Deeper Water Depths & Total Depth of well

• BOPE pressures => bubble pts & “Flashing” gas

• TDs thus more dry gas zones & GORs

• “Flashing” gas => Top of BOPE = gas in risers

12

Drilling Process SafetyDeepwater Drilling is Trending, continued…

In HRO terms this means there is a trend of increasing complexity & tighter coupling

Future HSE rigor should not be based on previous standards yet a new standard based on Trending dangers.

13

Drilling Process Safety

• Q & A

• Thank you!

• Drilling Process Safety 101• Drilling Process Safety Vision• Key Issues in Deepwater• Shell Process Safety Presentation to BSEE• Drilling Process Safety - Communication• Drilling Process Safety Vision of Progress• Drilling Process Safety Risk Escalators• PTTEP AA's "Line of Sight" System is Similar to BROAD

14