Joint Industry Project formed to establish BOP Reliability Database

Houston, Texas (28 January 2016) – A new Joint Industry Project (JIP) to establish an industry-wide BOP Reliability Database recently formalized the initial phase of work. The ultimate aim is to produce a single source of quality information on the performance of BOP systems.

The JIP was initiated jointly by the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) and the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP). Participating companies include oil & gas producers, drilling contractors, and equipment manufacturers.

“The new JIP combines two groups who had previously worked in parallel to collect BOP performance data. The Subsea BOP Users Executive Group, or “Group of 7”, and the IOGP Wells Expert Committee BOP Task Force, realized a single JIP with a common language could more effectively track BOP data used for increasing safety and reliability of BOPs,” said Bob Blank, Vice President of Operations Excellence, Noble Drilling, one of the contractors who developed the original system. “The vision of the JIP is to develop an effective data collection methodology for Blowout Preventer Equipment, together with a well-structured database that is underpinned by an effective governance process, based on input from both groups.”

“The JIP has been designed as a unique collaborative program with the objective of gathering high quality, industry-wide, statistically significant data to improve the industry’s approach to BOP maintenance and integrity management and to feed field experience back to designers,” says Patrick Toutain, IOGP Safety Director.

Participants include the ‘Group of 7’, Ensco International Incorporated, Noble Drilling Services, Inc., Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc., Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling, Inc., Seadrill America, Inc., Pacific Drilling Services, Inc., and Maersk Drilling USA, Inc. Also included are the three primary manufacturers and suppliers of BOP systems, Cameron, GE Oil & Gas, and National Oilwell Varco; and operators, including Anadarko, BP, Chevron, CNOOC/Nexen, Kosmos, Petrobras, Shell, Statoil, ExxonMobil and Total.

Each participating company in the JIP has a seat on the Board of Directors, which met yesterday in Houston. One of the Board’s first items of business was electing an Oversight Committee to handle day-to-day operations of the JIP. The Oversight Committee elected include contractors Diamond Offshore, Ensco PLC, Noble Drilling, and Pacific Drilling; producers include BP, Chevron, and Statoil; and all three manufacturers and suppliers. IADC will act as project coordinator.

The JIP is building on a database originally developed by the Group of 7. The database will support BOP system reliability, integrity and availability assessments; monitor BOP component reliability performance trends over time; support improvements in BOP testing and maintenance decisions and support long term improvements in BOP system design.

Mark Siegmund, BP Advisor for Wells Reliability and Chair of the IOGP Wells Expert Committee BOP Task Force, said, “We have a committed group of companies and individuals who have a sincere interest in further enhancing the reliability of BOP equipment, and we believe that this effort will have a positive future impact.”

About IADC

Since 1940, the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) has exclusively represented the worldwide oil and gas drilling industry. IADC’s mission is to catalyze improved performance for the drilling industry by enhancing operational integrity and championing better regulation to facilitate safer, cleaner and more efficient drilling operations worldwide. For more information, visit the IADC website at www.iadc.org.

ABOUT IOGP

The International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (now IOGP and formerly known as OGP) is the voice of the global upstream industry. Its members produce more than half of the world’s oil and over a third of its gas.  They operate in all producing regions:  the Americas, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, the Caspian, the Arctic, Asia and Australia. See more at: www.iogp.org.