As part of this process, the pressure balance in the well is tested to see whether pressure is increasing. The crew of Deepwater Horizon were in the process of sealing the well (known as ‘capping it off’) before getting ready to move the drilling rig to a new location. This contractual relationship between Transocean and BP was to become a key issue in the legal proceedings that followed the incident.ĭrilling the Macondo well was exploratory in nature, the objective was to collect data about the geology and quality of the oil and gas at its location. The fees for such a rig (and the specialist crew) could be up to $1 million per day.

Since 2001, the Gulf of Mexico workforce – 35,000 people, working on drilling rigs and production platforms – had suffered 1,550 injuries, 60 deaths, and 948 fires and explosions.Īt the time, Transocean was a major offshore drilling rig contractor with over a hundred of these drilling rigs under contract. The Macondo well had proved to be challenging, earning it the nickname “the well from hell”.ĭrilling for oil had always been hard, dirty, dangerous work, combining heavy machinery and volatile hydrocarbons extracted at high pressures. Delays meant that the Deepwater Horizon was overdue to leave the Macondo well by six weeks. A production unit (which may be a floating facility or a semi-permanent unit fixed to the seabed) then connects to the well to recover the hydrocarbons, possibly staying on location for decades. Drilling rigs such as these are mobile, moving around the world for contracts with major oil companies such as BP. The role of the Deepwater Horizon was to drill into the reservoir, then seal the well – known as temporary abandonment – ready for a future production unit to recover the oil. To prevent the hydrocarbons (i.e., oil and gas) from rising upwards in the well to the surface, a heavy fluid (known as drilling ‘mud’) is injected into the shaft. Such a drilling rig was necessary at this location, as the water was almost 5,000 feet deep, creating enormous pressures at the well.

It had been under contract to BP in the Gulf of Mexico for approximately 9 years. The Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater, semi-submersible drilling rig. The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig was owned by Transocean, on hire to BP, in order to drill the Macondo field, estimated to contain over 50 million barrels of oil, two and a half miles below the seabed. As they spoke to the offshore team and observed them preparing to cap off the well before moving to a new drilling site, danger was building up deep below. Their agenda included discussing occupational health and safety with the workforce and to congratulate the crew for a 7-year record with no Lost Time Injuries (LTIs). On 20 April 2010, several Transocean and BP executives arrived on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which had drilled a well in the Macondo field.

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