The BP Macondo well blowout experienced by the Deepwater Horizon rig was a major environmental catastrophe that will have far-reaching consequences for the offshore oil and gas industry and will impact environmental engineers who directly or indirectly interface with the industry. The sequence of events that may have caused the blowout are complicated and fascinating and are not well understood even among industry participants. Paul Parsons, head of Energy Training Resources, LLC, has produced a report on the blowout that is designed to make the topic understandable to anyone with an interest, and it has become the most widely-used reference document that is currently available on the subject. Mr. Parsons will give us a one-hour tour through the key aspects of his report along with some updates on the investigation.

The blowout is an interesting story that involves both human error and equipment failure, within the backdrop of ultradeepwater technology and procedures that sometimes exceeded the grasp of the workers involved. Mr. Parsons’ presentation will impart some general information that could benefit anyone, and will include many graphics that will teach listeners some of the basics of offshore oil and gas drilling. You’ll be hearing about the blowout for many years to come as the issue works its way through the court systems, so now is a good time to get up to speed. Anyone interested in some advance reading on the topic can find Paul’s report at www.energytrainingresources.com.

Unnumbered figure

Unnumbered figure

Unnumbered figure