Immediately after the Deepwater Horizon incident, the oil and natural gas industry mobilized itself to identify what could be learned from this event to help ensure it is never repeated.
Since then, hundreds of industry experts including representatives from Chevron, formed four task forces with the purpose of identifying improvements to deepwater drilling that could be made in three key areas: prevention, intervention and oil spill response.
Gary Luquette, President of Chevron North America Exploration and Production, currently chairs the governing board that oversees the work of all four task forces. He is also Chairman of the American Petroleum Institute's Upstream Committee.
"Significant progress has been made to improve prevention, intervention and spill response," said Luquette. "While our task force work is not complete, we are committed to making further improvements and believe enough progress has been made to lift the drilling suspension now."
The task forces were structured to deliver short-, mid-, and long-term recommendations and implementation plans to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Task force findings focus on offshore equipment, offshore operating procedures, subsea well control, and spill response.
Two of the committees recently released their recommendations.
- The Subsea Task Force announced 29 recommendations, including 15 immediate action items that could help control the release of oil from its source. One of the report's highlights included the Marine Well Containment Company. The company will operate and maintain a rapid response system designed to contain a potential future underwater blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. Chevron's participation as one of the four original sponsors of the effort is headed by Melody Meyer, president of Chevron Energy Technology Company.
- The Oil Spill Response Task Force made recommendations for spill response plans and training, as well as ways to expedite spill response capabilities. The task force also calls for a better understanding of dispersants and in-situ burning techniques.
The two other task forces delivered their reports to the government in May.
Updated: September 2010