Project showcase
Macondo’s Deepwater Horizon Disaster - Investigation, Capping and Relief Well Drilling
Project goal
As part of the incident investigation team and engineering task force, Add Energy provided dynamic analysis, simulations, planning and evaluations for the kill operation.
Asset:
Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico
What We Did
Add Energy contributed throughout the entire kill operation and provided specialists contributing and assisting in three different teams:
- Investigation Team
The main task was to gather facts and to investigate the circumstances around the time of the incident in order to determine how, when and what went wrong. - Top Kill Team
The primary kill operation was to install a Capping Stack on top of the existing subsea BOP, shut-in the well and bullhead hydrocarbons down the well. - Relief Well Team
The second kill operation involved pumping cement into the lower part of the wellbore through intersection by a relief well. In parallel with other teams working relentlessly to kill the well, our experts focused on determining the flow path scenarios.
The OLGA-WELL-KILL software, tailor made by Add Energy proved to be a unique and significant tool used during investigation and kill planning.

The Result
- The well was statically killed August 3rd, 24 days after installing the Capping Stack and 87 days after the incident occurred. The primary relief well intersected on September 16th and confirmed that the well was killed and plugged with cement.
- The top kill and the dynamic kill operations relied 100% on input from Add Energy’s dynamic simulations.


"The court found Mr Emilsen (AddEnergy's Blowout Specialist) generally credible and believes that his modelling was accurate"
Morten Haug Emilsen, Add Energy
Learn more about our Drilling, Well Engineering and Management Solutions
Learn moreGet in touch
If you'd like to learn more or discuss your project with us, please get in touch by completing the form below...