The oil and gas E&P process represents one of many examples of humankind’s attempt to tame nature. Thankfully, we succeed a majority of the time and without difficulty. But on very few occasions we fail miserably and completely.

The recently released Deepwater Horizon feature film shines a spotlight on the tragic consequences of human, process and equipment malfunctions in an ultradeepwater offshore drilling rig operation. The film is based on actual events of the night of April 20, 2010, when a gas release and subsequent explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon drilling vessel in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven people died, 11 others were injured, the rig sank and almost 5 MMbbl of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico.

Deep wells pose extremely hazardous conditions and bring with them a huge level of risk.

Every one of us who is closely associated with the oil and gas industry can learn from this sad experience. Deep wells pose extremely hazardous conditions and bring with them a huge level of risk. Situations can get out of control quickly. Dangerous conditions can escalate to the point of no return.

Valves, controls, automation solutions and aftermarket services are critical to helping ensure safe operating conditions, especially within offshore and onshore E&P environments. Such technologies and services support extreme pressure and temperature conditions in E&P environments that demand the very best—high integrity, pressure protection, emergency shutdown and isolation solutions—to protect process infrastructure, high-pressure vessels, critical process equipment and pipelines.

Safety-instrumented systems such as high-integrity protection systems, emergency shutdown valves and pressure-relieving devices bring together new technologies and solutions as the industry moves relentlessly on through the evolution of safety. These solutions have to withstand extreme overpressure conditions, and engineering and technical teams in the field must be able to depend on industry-compliant reliable equipment produced by leading suppliers. Industry standards set by organizations such as the American Petroleum Institute, International Organization for Standards, European Standards and the International Electrical Commission are constantly evolving to address country- and application- specific needs to address obvious dangerous operating conditions.

Those buying what we have taken years to develop and sell need to be aware of the best and not simply the cheapest solutions for optimizing safety and performance.

End users should expect nothing less than a collaborative and effective working relationship with their suppliers. In addition to being assured that all technical specifications are met, customers should expect access to ongoing training and customer education; availability of either onsite or remote equipment testing; and ability to readily tap into the knowledge and experience of the sales, engineering and maintenance representatives assigned to support them. This is much more than a customer-vendor engagement; it is an effective partnership. Customers should expect access to experts who are well-versed in all aspects of operating, maintaining, testing and serving these critical components, processes and systems.

When an owner, operator or authorized representative is specifying valves and controls equipment and solutions, asking for references and proof of experience from the suppliers who are being considered is absolutely essential. And that is because, collectively, all of us need to be 100% on top of our game all of the time.

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