Chevron is a recognized leader in deepwater drilling. Our success in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico began more than 10 years ago when we tapped the Genesis Field 2,600 feet (792 m) below the water's surface. Throughout that time, we have continued to drill safely by combining our technological know-how with a proven organizational culture of safety that begins with management and extends to employees and contractors.
Below the earth's surface, under more than 2,000 feet (610 m) of water, rests a vast promise of global energy. Below this depth, the global oil industry tripled its offshore capacity to 5 million barrels a day in the past decade and ultimately could double that number by 2015. In the United States, production in the outer continental shelf, almost all of which is in the Gulf of Mexico, currently accounts for 27 percent of the nation's oil and 15 percent of its natural gas.
While offshore resources hold the promise of energy and profit, there are risks that have to be addressed.
"We know we can only operate with the public's confidence that the energy we need will be produced safely and reliably," said Chevron Chairman and CEO John Watson. "We have a very personal stake in operating safely because it is our home, too."
One Team, One Goal
Our commitment to safe drilling begins with a corporatewide dedication to operational excellence. This emphasis translates into specific programs and standards, such as empowering workers to stop work whenever they sense potentially unsafe operations, thus creating layers of protection in drilling practices, well design and construction.
David Payne, Chevron's vice president of Drilling and Completions, said, "We address anticipated risks before we start, and we're prepared to handle any others that come up during drilling."
This approach was crucial at the Tahiti Field. Discovered in 2002, Tahiti, which is estimated to contain 400 million to 500 million barrels of oil-equivalent recoverable reserves, represented a complex and dramatic challenge because it lies in more than 4,000 feet (1,219 m) of water, while the reservoir itself is more than 23,000 feet (7,010 m) below the water's surface. Our team had to upgrade eight separate technologies just to finish its test well.
In 2010, we helped lead the joint-industry task force that made recommendations to the U.S. Department of the Interior to raise industry standards on offshore equipment, operating procedures and subsea well control to even higher levels.
"A majority of these standards are already embedded in Chevron's operations," Watson told the U.S. Congress in 2010 after the BP Macondo well incident in the Gulf of Mexico. "Chevron will adopt any new standards it doesn't already apply." He also stressed our commitment "to advancing safe operations through enhanced prevention, better well containment and intervention, and improved spill response."
Practicing Safety
In 2010, the company had a record-low injury and illness rate.
"At Chevron, one goal overrides all others: making sure everyone goes home safe every day," Watson said.
One example of our safety culture is our regularly held "safety stand-downs" with drilling personnel and rig crews to reinforce safety practices. We share these extensive reviews of drilling processes, well-control contingency plans and risk management plans across our global operations.
Since 1987, we have safely drilled 375 deepwater wells around the world. Deepwater drilling is particularly challenging because of the pressures involved, but our expertise with blowout prevention was evident during the task force work. A blowout preventer (BOP) is a series of valves that prevent a well's fluids from escaping from the well. We have an in-house team of employees dedicated solely to understanding BOPs and subsea well interventions. We also operate our own well-control school, have drilling specialists overseeing every major well and constantly partner with suppliers on equipment quality. And we have the only operator-owned cement lab in North America.
Operating a deepwater rig costs more than $1 million a day, and activating the BOP causes delays. "But we'd rather activate a BOP even when it isn't necessary than risk a blowout," said Payne. He sees BOPs like seat belts: It's important that they exist and are used, but it's always better if they're not needed.
Rick Graff, who spent the past 13 years on Chevron's Gulf of Mexico rigs as a deepwater drilling engineer, said his first boss taught him constant respect for high-pressure reservoirs in deep water. "We take great care as we drill to keep them safely contained with casing, cement, drilling mud and constant monitoring," Graff said. "In my view, the human element is just as important as the mechanical."
“At Chevron, one goal overrides all others: making sure everyone goes home safe every day.”
– John Watson, Chairman and CEO
At our Covington, Louisiana, operations center, offshore installation managers such as Mark Davis train on a simulator that is unique to our industry. The simulator mirrors high-tech control rooms on production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
The training creates scenarios as diverse as fluctuating pressures on equipment, changing flow rates, and loss of communications between computer and equipment.
"The simulator hones our skills to operate safely and is a unique tool to improve response through practice during the training," said Davis. "The simulator is not just about reading a procedure, it's about doing it."
Stop-Work Authority
Every employee and contractor has the authority and responsibility to stop work when he or she sees an unsafe act or condition.
The authority to stop work on a project is another critical factor in keeping workers safe, and this authority extends to every employee and contractor. It includes five steps: Stop the unsafe or at-risk act with those potentially at risk, notify a supervisor if he or she is present, address the issue, resume work after the issue has been resolved, and share what is learned with others.
Barry Smith, who was the offshore installation manager for Chevron's Tahiti project in 2010, said the team reviews stop-work cases before every shift. "We discuss the incident to learn from it and to positively recognize those who used stop-work authority," Smith said. "We want everyone to understand there are no negative repercussions for taking the time to do things right."
During the Tahiti hookup and commissioning phase, which lasted eight months, the Tahiti workforce logged stop-work authority more than 1,400 times, about five a day, for issues as diverse as hurricane-force weather and a shipping container that had arrived without a proper seal. Smith said there were almost 120 work stoppages onboard Tahiti in 2010.
"On Tahiti, I estimate that 60 percent to 70 percent of our work stoppages are called by our contractors," Smith said. "This is a testament to our safety culture and to our business partners' understanding that when we say it, we mean it. Our contractors notice that we 'walk the talk.'"
Updated: May 2011