Alert
  • Published: 21 Dec 2021

Blind shear door blown off BOP body

Blind shear door image
Blind shear door image

Description of Incident

During a high-pressure test of the Blow Out Preventer (BOP), one of the Blind Shear Ram (BSR) doors blew off the BOP body. The door was found resting on top of an adjacent equipment container, approximately 5 meters (16 feet) to the port side of the BOP.

The pressure test took place using the cement unit after nipple up of the BOP. The test started with a low- pressure test to 20 bars (290 psi) and held for 5 minutes. While increasing the pressure to a planned 570 bars (8,267 psi), the BSR door blew off when the pressure reached 109 bars (1,580 psi).

Before the pressure test, the BOP doors were opened for inspection and replacement of the middle pipe RAMS was carried out. During the reassembly of the BOP doors, the anti-rotation bars were not engaged.

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