''Atlantis PQ'' is a
BP and
BHP
BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...
joint venture
semi-submersible
Semi-submersible may refer to a self-propelled vessel, such as:
* Heavy-lift ship, which partially submerge to allow their cargo (another ship) to float into place for transport
*Narco-submarine, some of which remained partially on the surface
* ...
oil platform on permanent location over the
Green Canyon Atlantis Oil Field in deepwater
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
, south of
. The "PQ" identifies the platform as being a
production facility with
crew quarters.
The vessel's hull was designed by
GVA and built by
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd ( ko, 대우조선해양; abbreviated DSME) is one of the "Big Three" shipbuilders of South Korea, along with Hyundai and Samsung.
History
On 21 February 2011, the A. P. Moller-Maersk Group (M ...
(DSME) in
Okpo,
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
. Its topsides modules were built in
Morgan City, Louisiana with hull integration in
Ingleside, Texas
Ingleside is a city in Nueces and San Patricio Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. Its population was 9,519 at the 2020 census.
Ingleside was the home to Naval Station Ingleside. On August 24, 2005, the BRAC Committee voted to close the base. ...
.
[ ]
Operating in depths of more than , ''Atlantis'' was the deepest moored semi-submersible platform in the world when it was installed.
Food & Water Watch lawsuit
As a result of the 2010 explosion of the semi-submersible ''
Deepwater Horizon
''Deepwater Horizon'' was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig owned by Transocean and operated by BP. On 20 April 2010, while drilling at the Macondo Prospect, a blowout caused an explosion ...
'' drilling rig and the
subsequent oil spill, informants within BP came forward with allegations that safety practices at ''Atlantis PQ'' were flawed. Specifically, allegations have been laid against the plans and specs used in its construction, maintenance, and operation. Kenneth Abbott, a former BP contractor, reported that up to 89 percent of the engineering plans used to build and operate the installations were never authenticated by even BP engineers for safety and stability, and that over 95 percent of the plans for the underwater welds were never verified.
Food & Water Watch, a US-based consumer interest group, filed a complaint with the US
district court requesting an injunction to stop production on ''Atlantis PQ'' until these matters have been investigated.
In August 2014, the case against BP Atlantis was dismissed by a U.S. circuit court. U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes stated "BP never misrepresented -- much less knowingly distorted what it was doing,", finding that the case was ultimately about "paperwork wrinkles" instead of engineering shortcuts, adding
bbott and the environmentalists"have not blown a whistle," he said. "They have blown their own horn."
See also
*
Offshore oil and gas in the US Gulf of Mexico
Offshore oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico is a major source of oil and natural gas in the United States. The western and central Gulf of Mexico, which includes offshore Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, is one of the major petroleum-pr ...
*
Oil fields operated by BP
References
Further reading
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External links
BP ''Atlantis PQ'' diagram and imagesat
FMC Technologies
FMC Technologies, Inc. was a North American company that produced equipment for exploration and production of hydrocarbons. FMC Technologies was incorporated in 2000 when FMC Corporation divested its machinery businesses. It exists today as a par ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atlantis Pq
2007 ships
Ships of BP Shipping
BP buildings and structures
Semi-submersibles
Ships built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering
Oil platforms off the United States