BU The Macondo Deepwater Oil Project Risk Cost & Quality Management Case Study Macondo Well Case Report (Total 12 Points) How this will be graded: Struct

BU The Macondo Deepwater Oil Project Risk Cost & Quality Management Case Study Macondo Well Case Report (Total 12 Points)

How this will be graded:

Structure, Organization, Ease of reading, Grammar: 2.5 Points

This Assignment had a very, very specific structure. Identify 2-4 issues. Come up with 2-4 solutions for those issues and summarize them briefly. Provide a table with Pros and Cons for each, and wrap it all up with an overall (but brief) recommendation – what could have been done to help prevent this disaster from a PM perspective. DID YOU FOLLOW THIS STRUCTURE?
Did you follow the advice given in the lectures and From Your Instructor about the format?
Did you follow rules of English grammar, spelling, and syntax? Did you fix errors pointed out via Word’s editing capabilities (e.g. squiggly blue or red underlined text)?

Content: 8 Points

Is it clear from reading your assignment that you read the case and understood what happened that led up to the Deepwater Horizon explosion?
Did you ‘dig deeper’? Some people identify very technical issues – did you find the underlying reasoning that may have driven decisions to go a certain way technically?
Did you keep your writing concise and to the point? Part of the intent of this assignment is an exercise in expressing important ideas in as efficient a way as possible.
Was there a logical flow from your Issue Identification to your Proposed Solutions, to your Pros and Cons and to your conclusion?
If you did have ‘extra’ information to exhibit, did you put it in an Appendix rather than in the body of the text? Again, the focus is on a concise, crisp presentation of your arguments.

References and resources: 1.5 Points

Did you provide several relevant references that helped make your points? Of course you can use the main MIT/Sloan case as a reference, but did you reach out and find out more about the Deepwater Horizon from other sources?

Other things to consider:

Did you add value from your own professional and/or personal experience?
Did you make appropriate use of figures and tables in an appendix? Don’t substitute quantity for quality here – one good, relevant, and meaningful small table is worth 100 randomly inserted graphs and charts.
Did you really take on the viewpoint of a project leader here, and consider the way the team was motivated, the way the different stakeholders communicated (or didn’t), the culture of the different companies? MACONDO WELL CASE REPORT
1
Macondo Well Case Report
Thomas Grady
Boston University Metropolitan College
AD642 – Project Management
[In this version, comments in orange
and/or in square brackets, like this
comment, are used to substitute for
specific answers – remember…this
example is provided for format and
overall guidance as to how to create an
excellent Assignment 2]
MACONDO WELL CASE REPORT
2
Table of Contents
Executive summary
3
Background
4
Summary of issues
4
Alternative solutions
6
Alternative solutions Pros and Cons
7
Recommendations
8
References
9
Appendix
10
MACONDO WELL CASE REPORT
3
Executive Summary
On the night of April 20th, 2010, explosions at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig triggered
the largest marine oil spill of the 21st century. With both project and operations management at
fault, this report addresses 3 of their major issues:
?
[Here the student entered his Issue 1]
?
[Here the student entered his Issue 2]
?
[Here, the student entered his Issue 3]
Practical solutions to these issues will be presented, and recommendations will be made
based on the advantages and disadvantages of each solution.
MACONDO WELL CASE REPORT
4
Background
On the night of April 20th, 2010, explosions at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig triggered
the largest marine oil spill of the 21st century. The disaster not only claimed the lives of 11
workers, it went on to endanger marine life and more than 1,000 miles of coastline between
Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. With both project and operations management at fault, this
report seeks to identify 3 of the issues that led to a catastrophe that could’ve been averted.
Practical solutions to these issues will be presented, and recommendations will be made based on
the advantages and disadvantages of each solution.
Summary of Issues
Issue 1: [ISSUE 1] at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig was one of its major issues.
According to Brown, (as cited by Ingersoll, 2012), in September 2009, British Petroleum (BP)
conducted a safety audit on the rig, which identified 390 repairs that needed immediate attention
and would require more than 3,500 hours of labor to fix. For a competent project or operations
manager, acknowledging and correcting these types of issues is a primitive reflex.
Unfortunately, BP’s greed had always been far more powerful than any environmental and
safety concern. Back in 2005, an explosion at their Texas City Refinery killed 15 people and
injured another 180, which resulted in financial losses exceeding $1.5 billion (Ingersoll, 2012). It
was later reported that maintenance and safety measures had been put in the back burner, in
order for the company to save money. With such a tragedy on their record, one would think that
strict risk, maintenance, and safety management procedures would’ve been put into place, but as
Seneca once said: “For greed, all nature is too little.”
MACONDO WELL CASE REPORT
5
Issue 2: [Here the student writes about their Issue 2]. As stated by Ingersoll (2012), five
of BP’s decision makers for the Macondo well had only been in their positions for a short time
before the disaster struck (see appendix A). According to Parth (2013), to ensure [that Issue 2
doesn’t happen] requires you to:
?
Obtain complete and accurate
?
data
?
Examine your premises,
humble)
?
logic, and biases
?
Be aware of your motivations
?
Think through both short-
Know your own limits (be
Be comfortable with resulting
uncertainty
?
Check with others
term and long-term impacts
Taking this into account, it is fair to say that BP’s chain of command [exhibited Issue 2
behavior] regarding the design, construction, and maintenance of the well. Although
others were involved in providing their expert opinion with accurate data reports, once
again, BP’s overbearing behavior [caused them to exhibit Issue 2].
“In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is the king.” – Popular Spanish saying
Issue 3: [Here the student defines Issue 3 along with references] (Burke and Barron,
2014, p. 256). One week before the disaster, BP executives had 3 major decisions on their
hands: (1) choose the best casing for the well, (2) decide how many pipe centralizers were
needed, and (3) run a circulating mud and cement bond log test. Two options were available for
the well’s
MACONDO WELL CASE REPORT
6
casing: a string or a liner. Although the liner provided better protection from gas and oil leaks,
installing the string casing was cheaper and faster. Regarding the pipe centralizers, an expert’s
report advised BP to use a minimum of 21, if they were to lower the risk of gas flow problems.
Choosing to ignore the facts, BP decided to use only 6 centralizers; gas flow potential was now
categorized as severe. Lastly, they had to choose whether to run the circulating mud and cement
bond log tests. Both tests are critical steps to ensure safety at the well, but less than 24 hours
before the incident, BP decided not to run the cement bond log, and spent only a half hour
“testing” for mud circulation (a process that should’ve taken at least 6 hours to complete). BP
had a recipe for disaster after making these 3 choices, but once again, cost and time were more
important than ensuring overall safety.
Alternative Solutions
Issues
[Issue 1]
[Issue 2]
[Issue 3]
Alternative solutions
[Here the student placed one or two solutions to Issue 1 in highlysummarized form, just a sentence for each]
[Here the student placed one or two solutions to Issue 2 in highlysummarized form, just a sentence for each]
[Here the student placed one or two solutions to Issue 3 in highlysummarized form, just a sentence for each]
MACONDO WELL CASE REPORT
7
Alternative Solutions Pros and Cons
Solutions
[Here the student put a brief summary of
their Solution to Issue 1. ]
Pros
•
•
•
•
[Here the student put their Solution to
Issue 2. ]
[Here the student put their Solution to Issue
3. ] .
Technical focus on
advancing the
project
Accurate risk
assessment
Schedule and
budget
management
Higher level of
objectivity
Cons
• Time investment
• Difficulty
establishing
leadership
• High cost for PM
software
• Offers right level
of structure and
accountability
• Quality decisionmaking through good
data or experience
• Proposes policies
and procedures to
assist the project
• Time consuming
• Projects never go
according to plan
• Can cause delays
• Chances of getting
better deals increases
• May help establish
a trusting environment
between stakeholders
• Bargaining
becomes an option
• Success measures
can be established and
analyzed
• Half-truths and
exaggerations might
come into play
• Lack of
information could
provoke
misunderstandings
• Isolated decisions
could upset the rest
of the team
• Time consuming
• Not everyone is
willing, or likes to,
negotiate
MACONDO WELL CASE REPORT
8
Recommendations
Considering that cost and time were the propulsors behind all the critical decisions during
the Macondo well project, my main recommendation would be to [Here the student has one or
two sentences describing his overall recommendation, focusing on the most powerful and
implementable solution(s)]
Circumstances like these call for experience, objectiveness, organization, effective
communication, and accurate data to help with the decision-making process. [The
recommendations are reiterated here]. Safety should’ve never been compromised; safety
should never be learned by accident.
“Beware of ignorance when in motion; look out for inexperience when in action and
beware of the majority when mentally poisoned with misinformation, for collective ignorance
does not become wisdom.” – William J.H. Boetcker 1
1
(1873-1962) American religious leader and influential public speaker.
MACONDO WELL CASE REPORT
9
References
Burke, R. & Barron, S. (2014). Project Management Leadership: Building Creative Teams, 2nd
Ed. (p. 256) Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Greene-Blose, J. M. (2015). Deepwater horizon: Lessons in probabilities. Paper presented at
PMI® Global Congress 2015—EMEA, London, England. Newtown Square, PA: Project
Management Institute. Retrieved from: https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/comparison-riskevents-with-risk-management-9919
Ingersoll, C., Locke, R. & Reavis, C. (2012). BP and the Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010.
MIT Sloan Management School, 1-28. Retrieved from
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/LearningEdge/CaseDocs/10%20110%20BP%20Deepwater%20Horizon
%20Locke.Review.pdf
Pallardy, R. (2010). Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. In Encyclopedia Britannica online.
Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill-of2010#ref296705
Parth, F. R. (2013). Critical decision-making skills for project managers. Paper presented at
PMI® Global Congress 2013—EMEA, Istanbul, Turkey. Newtown Square, PA: Project
Management Institute. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/critical-decisionmaking-skills-project-managers-5798
Udo, N. & Koppensteiner, S. (2004). What are the core competencies of a successful project
manager? Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2004—EMEA, Prague, Czech Republic.
Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute. Retrieved from:
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/ore-competencies-successful-skill-manager-8426
U.S. House of Representatives. Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Improving oil
spill prevention and response, restoring jobs, and ensuring our energy security:
Recommendations from the National Commission on the BP Horizon Oil spill and offshore
drilling Hearing, February 9, 2011. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2011.
Retrieved from: https://congressional-proquest
com.ezproxy.bu.edu/congressional/docview/t21.d22.cmp-2011-hti-0015?accountid=9676
Ward, J. L. (2015). How to make better, faster project decisions. Paper presented at PMI®
Global Congress 2015—EMEA, London, England. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management
Institute. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/better-faster-project-decisions9651
MACONDO WELL CASE REPORT
10
Appendix A
Deepwater Horizon Chain of Command
Name
Title
Time in position
Patrick O’Bryan
VP, Drilling and
Completions, Gulf
of Mexico
3 months
David Rich
Wells Manager
6 months
David Sims
Drilling Operations
Manager
Well Site Leader
18 days
Drilling Engineering Team
Leader
18 days
Robert Kaluza
Greg Walz
4 days
Retrieved from:
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/LearningEdge/CaseDocs/10%20110%20BP%20Deepwater%20Horizon
%20Locke.Review.pdf
MACONDO WELL CASE REPORT
11
Appendix B
PM Core Competency Areas
KNOWLEDGE
General Management
skills
– Leadership
– provide direction
– provide vision
– coach/mentor team
members
– sound judgment
– issue & conflict
resolution
– effective decision
making
Project Management skills
Industry skills
– Fundamental project
management skills
– Breadth (not depth) in specific
application/industry knowledge
– Project management tools
& techniques
– Life cycle management
– Organizational savvy
– Negotiation
– Communication
– Team building
PROVEN EXPERIENCE
– Strategic in approach: understands and addresses inter-dependencies and real issues
– Clear definition of requirements (tested by real customer requirements) and timetables
– Experience managing to deliverables and milestones: on time/within budget/meeting
business needs
– Ability to manage troubled teams/projects and bring them to success
– Proven experience with projects of similar size and scope
– Organized and efficient in work processes
PERSONALITY
Characteristics
People management skills
– Aptitude; flexibility and ability to adapt to change and
cultural realities
– Confidence and commitment
– Pro-active, can-do attitude
– Open mindedness
– Common sense
– Trustworthy
– Creative
– Build and manage interpersonal
relationships
– Ability to influence and win respect
– Know when NOT to manage
– Politically sensitive
– Active listening
– Role model
– Fairness
Retrieved from: https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/ore-competencies-successful-skillmanager-8426
AD642 Individual Assignment 2
The BP Macondo Well Case
Merril van Wassenar
Boston University – MET College
AD642 X1 Project Management
Spring 2021
Comments from Instructor shown with yellow background
Executive Summary
The BP deepwater Horizon is one of the worst industrial catastrophes ever due to the oil rig
explosion on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven people died in what has become the worst
oil spill in the United States lasting 87 days with 507 million liters of oil spilled in the sea (US
Environmental Protection Agency, 2017). Multiple failing went right up to the top management of the
companies involved and multiple points at which it could have been averted. In this report we
addressed three of their major issues (redacted here that you have a chance to express your creativity):
? XXXXXXXXX
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? Asfda adsf ada aldada
Issues will be identified then practical solutions to these issues will be presented. Finally,
recommendations will be made based on the pros and cons of each solution and thanks to the solution
ranking matrix.
Background
The BP deepwater Horizon is one of the worst industrial catastrophes ever due to the oil rig
explosion on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven people died in what has become the worst
oil spill in the United States lasting 87 days with 507 million liters of oil spilled in the sea (US
Environmental Protection Agency, 2017).
A single cause is not at the origin of the tragedy of the Macondo well. It is rather a ‘collection’ of
errors that led to the explosion and the fire of the platform. The leak was indisputably caused by
technical failures, but those –in turn – could have been avoided or at least lessened in impact and
probability if they had not had deeper organizational and systemic failures within BP. The US Federal
investigation identified the technical failures that led to the blow out, it includes: the cement failing to
seal the bottom of the well, lack of centralizers in order to center the pipe when pouring the cement,
the blowout preventer malfunction, the high pressure in the drill and the cement formula that was not
certified to function properly, etc.
However, multiple failure causes, in this author’s opinion, are traceable to project management issues,
which in turn can be linked to the top management of the companies involved and multiple points at
which it could have been averted. The three top issues that we can identify are XXXXXX, YYYYY
and ZZZZZZZZ.
I will discuss three major project issues that have been identified within the “BP and the Deepwater
Horizon Disaster of 2010” that led up to the explosion and oil spill. Solutions and their pros and cons
will then be introduced along with recommendations of how the disaster could have been avoided.
Issues Identification
Issue 1
The first issue and the most important concerns XXXXXXXX. The student spent about 5
inches of text expanding on what issue XXXXXX is, and used several references to support assertions.
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ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd.
Issue 2
The second issue is BP’s YYYYYYYYYY. The student gave some key facts and figures,
supported their assertions with excellent references and provided additional background for this issue,
taking about 6 inches worth of text using this double-spaced format.
An example of such a reference is this one (Greene-Blose, 2015). Here is one additional example
(National Commission, 2011). Also, adsfdsfj
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Issue 3

The third issue concerns ZZZZZZZZZ, or at least [additional info about ZZZZZ here].
According to Jennings M. (2010): “Important quote from a reference.” The student then spent about 5
inches
of
text
detailing
why
Issue
ZZZZZZZ
was
important.kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
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Proposed Solutions Table
Issues # – Solution #
Solution
1-1
Create a nulla nec neque et nisi fringilla gravida. Etiam consequat sed ex ac
ullamcorper. Sed convallis odio vel lectus iaculis tempor. Duis ullamcorper,
nulla et viverra faucibus, nunc sem pretium nunc, et tincidunt urna felis at
ipsum. Mauris ornare nisi nec hendrerit congue. Curabitur ultricies non odio
sed tincidunt.
Aenean efficitur elementum mi nec tempor. Etiam eget magna eu enim
interdum congue.
1-2
2-1
Value scope by by ante id varius consequat, tellus nisi tempus ipsum,
scelerisque tristique arcu magna vel tellus. Vestibulum malesuada
sollicitudin ante a feugiat.
2-2
Establish amalesuada eleifend a eu nisi. Mauris augue mi, hendrerit quis
nunc sed, sagittis dapibus lacus. Curabitur id dui nec nibh varius aliquet.
Vivamus tristique nec velit pellentesque ultrices.
2-3
Establish knopflers across all the componirales. Tellas nixi tempus ipsum,
scelerisque tristique arcu magna.
3-1
Modify the policy concerning the Snidfolles razmodip for meeting gargolian
moffalorbs in order to not sacrifice joppernods and sithets over cringle and
popclovern constraints.
3-2
Create a program to hrink flongamuxes, being careful to boravvily torolope
all snarkles.
3-3
Implement a company-wide Xhosindi Nulppo program, focusing on the most
habbling ortichnevels.
Pros and Cons Matrix
Solution
Pros
Cons
1-1 Create a hullio munntia
mivit gurvinop.
?
Impact future profit by
reducing jurfonto costs
?
1-2 Implement bniomi darvish
hoskilah mushmush
?
Fewer holshimunk incidents
?
?
2-1 Shifting the overall
wosthingnorm burikollas to one
that focuses on chonitskelala
?
2-2 Build a strong yucatanshi
intiminis
?
…
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