The explosion of BP’s oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico and the subsequent oil spill was one of the largest and most catastrophic accidents with large-scale systems in recent years. As of early July 2010, over 200 million barrels have already spilled and there will be more. I would like to discuss this accident from three viewpoints. First of all, BP, one of the biggest oil companies in the world, has had several such accidents in recent years. Their slipshod work in building the rig and their lack of foresight in the first actions after the accident were to blame this time. Secondly, how effective was the education that their executives and engineers received in the BP school that BP commissioned MIT to administer for a couple of years? The third issue is not unique to BP but common to many engineering companies and their engineers. The accident revealed the fact that the technological level of robot operations 1500m below sea level is still quite low. It is obvious that operating robots in deep water is a challenging task so sudden accidents could have been predicted. From a systems engineering viewpoint, it is BP’s fault that they were not prepared for such a predictable accident.
A lot of people are disappointed with the level of BP’s remotely-operated robot technology. Is there a difference between the technological levels of remote robot operation this time and the craning of the main engine of the H-II rocket 3000m below sea level off Ogasawara over a decade ago? I can’t emphasize enough the importance of what we teach at SDM: “see both the details and the big picture.”
Yoshiaki Ohkami
Director, SDM Research Institute
Dean, Graduate School of System Design and Management