Well, Well! Are We Drilling In The Right Direction?

From Piper Alpha to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon/Macondo incident and many others in between, offshore oil and gas operations clearly have the potential for catastrophic consequences. Although most of these incidents involved a number of technical causes, many of the root causes were related to human factors involving leadership, accountability and safety culture issues. 

Individual performance can be negatively affected by factors such as motivation, fatigue, inadequate training, excessive workload, poor equipment design, and the worksite environment.  Most industrial incidents involve human factors, and understanding these performance shaping factors is essential for learning lessons and preventing recurrence.  A strong culture takes advantages of inherent strengths and helps overcome weaknesses of each individual within the company to create optimal company performance.  

Recently the author has interviewed onshore teams responsible for well design and execution of drilling and completions (D&C), and the crews of mobile offshore drilling units (MODUs) and drilling facilities on production platforms.  Observations of these D&C operations in different regions and different regulatory regimes, including the Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, West Africa, and Asia Pacific, highlighted a number of common issues with potential to adversely impact safety. 

The paper will summarize observations of the strengths and weaknesses along with variations in safety culture and practices between the different regions and regulatory regimes.  The paper will also provide a number of common themes involving safety culture, leadership, accountability, and management systems which, depending upon the conduct of operations, can lead to high or poor organizational performance.