DoI calls for live GoM test of emergency containment equipment

Offshore staff

WASHINGTON, D.C. –US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has called for the Marine Well Containment Co. to conduct a live drill in the Gulf of Mexico using its critical well control equipment.

The demonstration will involve the field deployment and testing of a capping stack as part of a larger scenario that will also test an operator’s ability to obtain and schedule the deployment of the supporting systems necessary for successful containment – including debris removal equipment and oil collection devices, such as top hats. The capping stack will be lowered to the seabed by wire, a technique that offers the potential to be significantly faster than the deployment via pipe that occurred during theDeepwater Horizon response.

Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) will oversee the testing.

5/25/2012