Travelers Insurance has launched a free emergency-response planning guide for managing well blowouts in U.S. oil and gas land drilling. It is the first-ever such resource to provide a framework for establishing an early intervention and emergency-response plan to address the catastrophic impact of blowouts.

"Establishing a plan and incorporating these procedures will help businesses to mitigate losses and quite possibly save lives," says Brian Krause, vice president and global practice leader for Travelers Oil & Gas, based in Houston. "The emergency-response plan will be a critical resource for well operators

and contractors."

The new plan draws on knowledge and experience from several well-known well-control specialists. Krause, a former president of Boots & Coots Inc., developed the Travelers' plan with Wild Well Control Inc., another Houston-based supplier of firefighting, well-control and related services worldwide.

As a supplement to the well contractor's or operator's oil-spill contingency plan, the plan identifies procedures for handling crises. These range from routine well-control operations to situations involving a total loss of control that would necessitate the immediate mobilization of people and equipment.

The plan provides guidance on ways to protect personnel, outlines notification steps to alert regulatory agencies and defines critical information required for developing response strategies, organizing personnel and pre-selecting mobilization plans.

"When these explosions happen, loss of life, damaged equipment and environmental pollution are just a few of the devastating effects a drilling operation faces," says Richard Gustafson, president, Travelers Oil & Gas. The firm is the largest U.S. domestic writer of control-of-well insurance.

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