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Posted in BP British Petroleum,Deepwater Horizon,Government,Gulf Coast,Maritime Law on July 7, 2010
In light of the recent events in the Gulf of Mexico and the disastrous oil spill following the explosion on and the subsequent sinking and destruction of the Deepwater Horizon, it is the view of maritime lawyers, Gordon & Elias, L.L.P, that the situation warrants some new rules about the safety of operations of a mobile offshore drilling units (MODUs), self-propelled mobile offshore drilling units (self-propelled MODUs) and/or mobile offshore drilling units that are dynamically positioned vessels (MODUs – DPV) operating in U.S. waters.
Mobile Oil Drilling Unit - MODU
United States Coast Guard regulations require an unlimited tonnage captain to be in charge but this is not true for some foreign flagged states. New rules should be adopted that require all such vessels be U.S. flagged and, therefore, under the more stringent USCG guidelines. The MODU captain should be responsible for both the navigational and industrial functions – including drilling operations.
In the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the fateful decisions that led to the disaster were made by a Transocean Offshore Installation Manager [OIM] and a British Petroleum manager, not the Captain. Critical decisions such as these should be in the hands of the Captain who should also be experienced in drilling.
The captain of a marine vessel should be responsible for the safety and efficiency of all operations – including cargo operations, navigation, crew management – at all times. By exercising sole oversight over all activities conducted by a MODU this would ensure that a single person would be responsible for ensuring the safe operation of a MODU at all times.
New rules will need to ensure that individuals who are entrusted with the supervision of an oil drilling rig would have to demonstrate expertise of all aspects of the operations under their command. A captain’s expertise would have to include both navigation functions and drilling functions. A captain can always have assistants with varying levels of expertise, but the final word should lie with the captain.
Published by maritime lawyer Gordon & Elias, LLP