NEW ORLEANS – Analysts and engineers from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s (BSEE) Oil Spill Preparedness Division conducted oil spill response efforts in the Gulf of Mexico Region on Nov. 30, and Dec. 3 and 8. The team evaluated two separate Spill Response Operations training exercises for Freeport McMoran Oil & Gas and Chevron at ports near the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River.
On Dec. 8 the exercise with Chevron was conducted in Fort Jackson, La. aboard a responder vessel that is specified in the operator’s oil spill response plan. During the training exercise, the vessel deployed specialized equipment to test boom. An earlier exercise was conducted on Dec. 3 in Grand Isle, Louisiana aboard a responder vessel contracted by Freeport McMoran Oil & Gas. BSEE analysts evaluated a spill response operating team deploying equipment in the correct configuration. The exercise also included the training of the sub-contractors that would be assisting National Response Corporation with the deployment of the equipment. Both trainings were successful.
BSEE staff also conducted an unannounced spill exercise of Black Elk Energy Offshore on Nov. 30. During the one-day exercise the BSEE team worked from Houma, La. initiating a simulated scenario while Black Elk Energy representatives coordinated response efforts from its offices in Houston. The U.S. Coast Guard and Louisiana Oil Spill Office observed the exercise at the Houma facility.
Government Initiated Unannounced Exercises are designed to give BSEE the opportunity to evaluate, on a no-notice basis, an operator’s access to necessary resources and test the viability and effectiveness of oil spill response plans. This was the 15th unannounced exercise BSEE has conducted this year.
