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Title: Well blowout rates in California Oil and Gas District 4--Update and Trends

Abstract

Well blowouts are one type of event in hydrocarbon exploration and production that generates health, safety, environmental and financial risk. Well blowouts are variously defined as 'uncontrolled flow of well fluids and/or formation fluids from the wellbore' or 'uncontrolled flow of reservoir fluids into the wellbore'. Theoretically this is irrespective of flux rate and so would include low fluxes, often termed 'leakage'. In practice, such low-flux events are not considered well blowouts. Rather, the term well blowout applies to higher fluxes that rise to attention more acutely, typically in the order of seconds to days after the event commences. It is not unusual for insurance claims for well blowouts to exceed US$10 million. This does not imply that all blowouts are this costly, as it is likely claims are filed only for the most catastrophic events. Still, insuring against the risk of loss of well control is the costliest in the industry. The risk of well blowouts was recently quantified from an assembled database of 102 events occurring in California Oil and Gas District 4 during the period 1991 to 2005, inclusive. This article reviews those findings, updates them to a certain extent and compares them with other well blowoutmore » risk study results. It also provides an improved perspective on some of the findings. In short, this update finds that blowout rates have remained constant from 2005 to 2008 within the limits of resolution and that the decline in blowout rates from 1991 to 2005 was likely due to improved industry practice.« less

Authors:
;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
Earth Sciences Division
OSTI Identifier:
981460
Report Number(s):
LBNL-2989E
TRN: US201012%%1271
DOE Contract Number:  
DE-AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Exploration and Production--Oil and Gas Review
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 7; Journal Issue: 2; Related Information: Journal Publication Date: 2009
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54; 58; BLOWOUTS; CALIFORNIA; EXPLORATION; FLUIDS; HAZARDS; HYDROCARBONS; INDUSTRY; INSURANCE; LEAKS; OILS; RESERVOIR FLUIDS; REVIEWS; RISE; SAFETY; WELLS

Citation Formats

Jordan, Preston D, and Benson, Sally M. Well blowout rates in California Oil and Gas District 4--Update and Trends. United States: N. p., 2009. Web.
Jordan, Preston D, & Benson, Sally M. Well blowout rates in California Oil and Gas District 4--Update and Trends. United States.
Jordan, Preston D, and Benson, Sally M. 2009. "Well blowout rates in California Oil and Gas District 4--Update and Trends". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/981460.
@article{osti_981460,
title = {Well blowout rates in California Oil and Gas District 4--Update and Trends},
author = {Jordan, Preston D and Benson, Sally M},
abstractNote = {Well blowouts are one type of event in hydrocarbon exploration and production that generates health, safety, environmental and financial risk. Well blowouts are variously defined as 'uncontrolled flow of well fluids and/or formation fluids from the wellbore' or 'uncontrolled flow of reservoir fluids into the wellbore'. Theoretically this is irrespective of flux rate and so would include low fluxes, often termed 'leakage'. In practice, such low-flux events are not considered well blowouts. Rather, the term well blowout applies to higher fluxes that rise to attention more acutely, typically in the order of seconds to days after the event commences. It is not unusual for insurance claims for well blowouts to exceed US$10 million. This does not imply that all blowouts are this costly, as it is likely claims are filed only for the most catastrophic events. Still, insuring against the risk of loss of well control is the costliest in the industry. The risk of well blowouts was recently quantified from an assembled database of 102 events occurring in California Oil and Gas District 4 during the period 1991 to 2005, inclusive. This article reviews those findings, updates them to a certain extent and compares them with other well blowout risk study results. It also provides an improved perspective on some of the findings. In short, this update finds that blowout rates have remained constant from 2005 to 2008 within the limits of resolution and that the decline in blowout rates from 1991 to 2005 was likely due to improved industry practice.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/981460}, journal = {Exploration and Production--Oil and Gas Review},
number = 2,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2009},
month = {Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2009}
}