The Deepwater Horizon tragedy needs no introduction. Yet this was no ageing oil platform with rusting flanges and leaky pipe fittings. A state-of-the-art, dynamically-positioned, semi-submersible oil rig, she was the jewel in BP’s crown. Upgraded with cutting-edge technology in 2002, she drilled the world’s deepest ever oil well, in September 2009. Yet just a little over 6 months later, she was blown apart by the worst explosion the US oil and gas industry had ever seen. Several workers lost their lives, and the effect on the marine environment has been immeasurable.

Despite the fact that production casing pipes were being run and cemented at the time of the explosion, the cause was not, so far as anyone is aware, connected to the pipe flanges. The bore was due to be plugged, ready for later completion as a subsea producer while the Deepwater rig moved on to a new site. However, before this could be done, an unusual level of pressure built up in the marine riser, which rose and expanded suddenly, causing the massive blowout and loss of life which occurred.

Gas and oil are volatile and unpredictable, and the flanges and pipes used to convey them have to endure very high pressures. No matter how cutting-edge the equipment, and how well-trained the personnel are, it’s still a risky business. The truth is, the blowout was of such magnitude, and so unexpected, that for once strong pipe fittings weren’t enough.

We at Chemipetro can’t guarantee your installation won’t suffer unexpected problems however, by fitting our quality pipe flanges and fittings, we can keep unexpected failure down to a minimum.