2010 Gulf of Mexico Macondo Oil Spill Disaster: HACCP Lessons for Nigeria's Gulf of Guinea

Abstract

Abstract Dealing with potentially vast and serious environmental incidents has remained a challenge for the Oil and Gas Industry, thus, the aftermath of April 20, 2010, Macondo disaster, deserves a holistic overview of events responsible for, or associated with, the disaster. The study adopted and adapted the HACCP analysis and drew lessons by not only identifying and tracing the immediate and remote causes of the spill but also making appropriate recommendations on prevention and remediation measures to be adopted at similar operating points in the Gulf of Guinea area, like Shell's Bonga FPSO facility and Chevron's Agbami. Using detailed extrapolation as a basis for the establishment of material conditionalities and similarities existing between the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of Guinea, the study was conducted with the aid of an extensive and exhaustive review of literature, technical reports, and other de-classified materials to determine, amongst other things, the how, why and lessons learned. The results show that there are still technological, legal, and administrative lapses in our jurisdiction, causing shortcomings in the applicable administration of rules, regulations, and enforcement procedures in the Oil and Gas sector, which has been and is still being exploited negatively by industry players. Hazard Analyses Critical Control Points addressed particularly include, causes of explosions, nature of fire, loss of well control, blowout, vessel sinking, casualties, modes of evacuation, vessel safety systems, oil spillage, environmental damages, systems deficiencies, maintenance of electrical equipment, gas alarms and automatic/emergency shutdown systems, the inadequacy of crew blast protection equipment barrier, inadequate intractable command, and control hands-off, lack of requisite training for personnel on emergency preparedness, to shut down engines and disconnect, risk-based decisions, abilities to prevent or limit the magnitude of the disaster. The study concluded that an immediate review of some identified outdated rules and operational guidelines of the DPR be undertaken, namely: procedure guide for the construction and maintenance of fixed offshore platforms; procedure guide for construction & maintenance of surface production facilities; flexible pipes, SCR, and mooring chain systems. requirements for the maintenance and inspection of flexible pipes, SCR, and mooring chain systems; operation & maintenance of pipelines. guidelines etc. Adding more pre-installed blowout preventer (BoP) systems per rig/drill line, as well as call for a review of proposed PIB, EGASPIN 2018, and a further strengthening of NOSDRA.