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26 MN April 2011 Federal regulators approved more deepwater Gulf drilling permits in March as companies pledged to use new spill-control technologies devel- oped by two separate consortia, Helix Well Containment Group and the Marine Well Containment Company. Rachael Moore, spokeswoman for Exxon Mobil Corp. in Houston, said the Marine Well Containment Company or MWCC is a not-for-profit, stand-alone entity with membership open to all oil-and-gas operators in the U.S. Gulf. “The MWCC is part of multiple, industry efforts to improve prevention, well intervention and spill response,” she said. ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell are MWCC's sponsor companies, and BP, Apache and Anadarko have joined as members. Moore said an interim containment system owned and operated by the MWCC is available for use in the Gulf now and that it greatly exceeds pre- vious containment capabilities in the region. Deployment speeds are faster too, she noted. On March 22, ExxonMobil Exploration Co. said it received a deepwater drilling permit for Keathley Canyon 919 or Hadrian North located south of Lafayette, La. about 240 miles off the coast in over 6,900 feet of water. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) granted the permit after the company met containment requirements. ExxonMobil contracted with the MWCC to use its capping stack to staunch oil if an accident occurs there. When Washington regulators suspended deepwater activity last May, ExxonMobil had a drilling permit at the Keathley Canyon site and was moving a rig to that location. In late March Moore said “the MWCC is also currently developing an expanded system compatible with a wide range of well designs and equipment, oil-and-natural-gas flow rates, and weather condi- tions. ExxonMobil is leading the construction of this billion-dollar expand- ed system which will be available in 2012.” In late March BOEMRE issued its first permit for completely new explo- ration in the Gulf since the moratorium ended in October to Chevron Corp. to drill south of Lafayette, La. using a MWCC capping stack. From late February into March BOEMRE approved four permits for deepwater wells using technology developed by Helix Well Containment Group. As Containment System is Adopted Gulf Rig Permits Pick-Up By Susan Buchanan The MWCC interim system includes a sub-sea capping stack with the ability to shut- in oil flow or flow the oil to surface vessels Photo cour tesy Marine W ell Containment Company .
