UK group expands relief-well plan guidelines

The Well Life Cycle Practices Forum, a UK group formed in response to the Macondo tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, has published a second edition of its guidelines for relief-well planning for work on the UK continental shelf (OGJ Online, July 31, 2012).

The guidelines apply to plans for relief wells that operators must include with the Oil Pollution Emergency Plan that must be submitted to the Department of Energy and Climate Change for any offshore installation involved in oil and gas exploration and production.

The second edition includes guidance for an expanded range of relief wells, including subsea wells.