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U.S. Minerals Management Service peeled-back testing requirement in 1998 under the Clinton Administration
new procedures and rules may be needed, including certifying blowout preventers by an independent group of experts. He also said the agency may revise its peeled-back testing requirement of 1998, when it replaced a weekly regimen with biweekly pressure tests...
...In 1999, right after that rule change, an MMS-commissioned report by a research group identified 117 blowout preventer failures at deep-water rigs within the previous year. These breakdowns created 3,638 hours of lost time a 4 percent chunk of drilling time.
In 2004, an engineering study for federal regulators said only 3 of 14 new devices could shear pipe, as sometimes required to check leaks, at maximum rated depths. Only half of operators accepting a newly built device tested this function during commissioning or acceptance, according to the report.
"This grim snapshot illustrates the lack of preparedness in the industry to shear and seal a well with the last line of defense against a blowout," the report warned.
Two years later, a trade journal's article still noted that shearing preventer's "may also have difficulty cutting today's high-strength, high toughness drill pipe" at deep wells.