Complacency about shear rams

[docellen]

It seems that the likely failure of shear rams has been well known in the industry, and nobody cared to even order a bigger ram, which would solve the problem. See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshore_oil_spill_prevention#Blowout_preventer

for the scoop.

My question is, why did the people whose lives were at risk tolerate this? It seems like there must have been a reason for the complacency, perhaps a belief that with all the other shutoffs available, it would never be necessary to use the shears, and they were there just to satisfy bureaucratic requirements. I would be very interested to hear from those who have worked on rigs with these flaky rams.

 

[docellen]

What kind of testing should be done before mounting a BOP on a wellhead? Would it be sufficient to demonstrate that it can shear a piece of the drill pipe while still on deck? If it can do this with 25% reduced hydraulic pressure, is that sufficient safety margin to allow for real pressures in a blowout situation?

 

[Windward]

On the Oil Drum, there is some discussion of attitudes on the rigs towards BOPS and actual vs. required testing. Sorry I don't have any links. The quantity of posts over there since Macondo is huge. I have read only part of them. I suppose you could find something using the search engine.