Six years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, more than 400 University students have made efforts to ensure such a tragedy never occurs again.
The LSU Petroleum Engineering Research and Technology Transfer, PERTT, Laboratory provides a hands-on training experience for engineering students. Students manage maintenance routines and conduct research.
The facility began development in the early ’80s. Originally, the equipment was used for blowout prevention. Today, the facility recreates disastrous oil spills and focuses further research on safety.
“In the late 1970s, the government regulator, which at the time was the Mass Notification Systems, decided they needed to have everyone that worked on a drilling rig trained in well control techniques,” said PERTT Lab Interim Director Wesley Williams.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest marine oil spill in history, occurred in April 2010. The Deepwater Horizon rig, owned and operated by offshore-drilling company Transocean and leased by BP, exploded. After, a surge of natural gas blasted through the concrete core of the rig. The natural gas ignited as it traveled to the rig’s platform, killing 11 workers and injuring 17.
The PERTT Lab has the capability to provide a full-scale well control training with gas kicks, which occurs when natural gas prematurely enters the well from the reservoir during a drilling operation.
As the gas rises to the surface, Williams said it increases the wellhead pressure. If not mitigated, the pressure can exceed the design pressure and cause a blowout, which is a rupture of the wellhead or casing pressure boundary. This blowout scenario is what happened during Deepwater Horizon.
Williams said the lab does not receive any funds from the University and depends solely on grants and research money from companies in the oil industry.
The PERTT Lab works with many companies in the oil industry like Shell, Chevron and BP. These companies have shown support for the facility and have performed numerous experiments there.
Student workers employed aren’t limited to petroleum engineers. Williams said the lab is open to mechanical engineering and computer science students. He hopes to continue incorporating other departments on campus, including business and design students, to help shape other aspects of the lab facility.
“What the students do is very similar to what the industrial training for people would be,” Williams said.
Before students start working in the lab, they spend time in basic oil control class and practice different cases on simulators in a computer lab.
“It’s been so amazing to have this facility to help with our education. It’s unparalleled,” said petroleum engineering senior Joe Mahfood. “No other school has a well facility on campus. Because of that, LSU is able to give us a really hands on experience.”
Moving forward, the PERTT lab will continue to recreate real-world scenarios dedicated to preparing students and conducting research to prevent future oil spill disasters.
