On the Blowout Preventer Testing Problem: An Approach to Checking for Leakage in BOP Networks

Blowout Preventers (BOPs) and choke manifolds are key pieces of drilling rig equipment to prevent the uncontrolled release of potentially hazardous formation fluids to surface. The blowout prevention testing problem is that of testing BOP valves to check if they are functional or not. Several type of testing is done on these valves. This paper deals with the check if the valves are capable of holding pressure. We present a decision model that allows a structured and time saving approach to minimize the number of test sets in order to identify leakage. Recently the BOP terminology has gained prominence and public attention as a result of the Macondo blow-out and resulting oil-spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of the USA.