International Activities

The International Oil Spill Conference (IOSC) is the pre-eminent gathering of oil spill experts from around the world. This biennial Conference hosts more than 1800 persons from more than 50 countries who attend technical and policy presentations, special exhibits and equipment demonstrations. MMS is a member of the IOSC Executive Committee. The Issue Paper Sub-committee of the IOSC conducted a two and half-day workshop in London, UK, from September 21-23, 2004 at the International Maritime Organizations headquarters offices.

The goal of this project was to coordinate the publications of results of the 2003 MMS-sponsored 'Correlating Results of Ohmsett Dispersant Tests with Identical At-Sea Trials' study by SL Ross and A. Lewis 2004. The results of the other spin-off projects were aimed at correlating results of other dispersant effectiveness testing procedures with results of the June 2003 UK at-sea trials, and identify, plan and coordinate follow-up dispersant effectiveness experiments at Ohmsett.

This JIP workshop presented by IADC worked with industry contractors and government representatives on dissemination of the latest new technology in drilling, well control and safety practices in the offshore oil and gas industry from the Canada, Mexico, England, Norway and US field of operations. The workshop was held on June 22, 23, 2004, in Galveston, Texas. The main objective was to help IADC disseminate new technology in offshore drilling. The workshop brought together the best know-how from industry, research and international government agencies.

The project was designed to evaluate, develop, and improve project readiness of technologies for solutions for the Touch Down Zone (TDZ) region of Steel Catenary Risers (SCRs) used for deepwater development. There is often insufficient time during the system selection phase for a project team to undertake a comprehensive investigation of potential SCR performance and therefore any selection often later requires timely and costly alterations to other parts of the system in order to mitigate difficulties with the SCRs.

The objectives of this research project are twofold. The first is to determine if the results of dispersant effectiveness tests conducted at Ohmsett are consistent with those gathered in the laboratory and under actual at-sea conditions. The project will conduct a series of dispersant effectiveness tests at Ohmsett under identical conditions to those conducted in the at-sea trials done in the UK in 2003. The research will compare the threshold limiting conditions for dispersibility as measured at Ohmsett with those measured in the laboratory and at-sea, under identical conditions.

JIP workshop on Deepwater Drilling. The workshop was held on June 18 and 19, 2003. The workshop identified 3 areas of interest:

1) Identify and discuss the technical gaps that remain in ultra-deepwater drilling;

2) Discuss the directions that industry needs to take to address these technical gaps, and

3) Identify current deepwater drilling technologies that can be applied to shallow-water and onshore drilling applications.

Understanding human limitations of control room response became more apparent following the sinking of the semi-submersible P-36 offshore Brazil in March of 2001. The purpose of the work was to improve the way in which human factors is integrated within safety management in hazardous industries, both offshore and onshore. This was achieved through development and validation of the Influence Network (IN) technique.

The Gulf of Mexico Hydrates JIP, in collaboration with NETL/DOE, is investigating naturally occurring gas hydrates in the GOM.

The goals of the JIP include:

The Banff 2003 Pipeline Workshop focused on Management of Pipeline Integrity. Workshops and forums provided a free exchange of information and ideas to promote the management of integrity, safety and risk of the pipeline infrastructure. The Banff/03 Workshop was held in Banff, Canada and is the sixth in a series of workshops that Natural Resources Canada has organized to address new pipeline technologies.

Discussions with government agencies and oil companies in the United States, Canada and Norway have indicated their interest in conducting a research program involving a full-scale experimental oil release in the Arctic Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ). Primary interest appeared to be in evaluating alternative oil spill response options and in supplying data strengthened model simulations of oil-ice interactions.