U.S. Department of the Interior |
Safety Alert No. 205 October 31, 2002 |
Contact: John
McCarroll |
Recently a well started to flow up the drill pipe after the floorhands had set the slips, unscrewed the kelly, and made the kelly up to the next joint of drill pipe in the mouse hole. A float valve had been removed from the bottomhole assembly (BHA) prior to drilling out below the surface casing. The rig floor safety valve was stabbed; however, the valve could not be closed, with two men receiving burns from hot mud in the attempt. The valve was removed but the mud flow was too strong to stab the drill pipe. When the gas and mud flow began to reach the top of the derrick, the rig was abandoned. One man was lost during the evacuation and is presumed dead. The well ceased to flow without intervention.
An MMS investigation concluded the following to be causes of the incident:
Therefore, MMS recommends the following to operators and contractors:
For details of the accident, see OCS Report MMS 2002-062. Copies of the report may be obtained from the MMS Public Information Office located at 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123 (1-800-200-GULF or local 504-736-2519).
MMSGOMR—
www.gomr.mms.gov