Disaster on the Horizon: High Stakes, High Risks, and the Story Behind the Deepwater Well Blowout

by Bob Cavnar

Disaster on the Horizon is a behind-the-scenes investigative look at the worst oil well accident in US history, which led to the current environmental and economic catastrophe on the Gulf Coast. Cavnar uses his 30 years in the business to take readers inside the disaster, exposing the decisions leading up to the blowout and the immediate aftermath. It includes personal accounts of the survivors, assembled from testimony during various investigations, as well as personal interviews with survivors, witnesses, and family. It also provides a layman's look at the industry, its technology, people, and risks. It deconstructs events and decisions made by BP, Transocean, and the US Government before and after the disaster, and the effects of those decisions, both good and bad.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Environment

230 pages, Paperback

First published October 22, 2010

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

In summary, the oil company British Petroleum which has a long history of hurting people and the environment did a lot of lying, corner cutting, safety downplaying, and finger pointing that ultimately lead to the worst man-made environmental disasters ever that killed several people and negatively impacted the Gulf of Mexico for generations to come. Many of the actions BP took during the disaster, such as spreading dispersant on the oil, were more for the TV cameras and against the advice of environmental scientists.Several of the attempts to stop the tens of thousands of gallons leaking into the ocean every day (that BP was at first insisting was less than 2,000 gallons a day...) we're performed in such a way to prevent the government getting an accurate estimate so as to decrease the amount of liability they may be subject to. What a great company!

The book is a fascinating read from an engineering and human factors perspective. Costs cuttings, complacency, removing and ignoring regulations, all lead to the disaster.

I wish the book had more pictures and diagrams of what the author was talking about, as some of it could be pretty technical and difficult to visualize. It made me want to find a good documentary about it with pretty CG to better understand what all took place.

Not looking forward to the next generational event where we forget the lessons we learned from this and the Exxon Valdez...

[Angus Mcfarlane · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an unusual book. The author is obviously well acquainted with the topic but in the rush to get his expertise into a book, much of his knowledge is lost in poorly coordinated detail.

Clearly, the disaster on the deepwater horizon was a terrible accident and its analysis needs to be publicly documented in order to ensure nothing like it ever happens again. What really happened? What was the root cause? What can be done to prevent similar events happening again? Deepsea drill rigs are, apparently, complex pieces of engineering rivaled by nuclear power plants and (maybe a few other things such as large chemical plants? ), with major implications if they fail. I could include tailings dams but they aren't that complex, perhaps part of their problem! The challenge for a book of this nature is to enable the complexity to be made comprehensible and the root cause conclusions self evident to both technical and non technical readers. Which this book fails to do: in the rush to publication, the author assumes that the reader will be nearly as familiar he is with the engineering, moving too quickly to conclusions and there by relying only on passion and conviction to persuade his audience.

So I'm perplexed: clearly the writer has something useful to offer, but the opportunity to demonstrate it is lost in this account. Hopefully other reports for government and industry, and books for public consumption (even Wikipedia, perhaps?), have constructed a clear cause and effect which will support policy and engineering solutions which produce positive lessons for the future. I don't think this book does it.

[Reecemoney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disaster on the Horizon is about the worst oil spill in U.S history which lead to the catastrophe of the Gulf of Mexico. The author does an okay job on this read because he has worked with oil, gas, etc. He did rush things in some parts and it became confusing at times but it lead to a very exciting and interesting read. I would recommend this book to people who are in to action and adventure and who like to learn about history. If you do enjoy this book i would watch the movie Deep Water Horizon for it was one of the greatest movies i ever watched.

[John Houghton · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an incredibly frustrating read.

An oil field veteran, Cavnar is passionate about the craft of deepwater drilling, and scathing about the failure of politicians and industry to protect workers and the planet from its deregulated excesses. "Drill baby drill!" indeed.

The disaster on the Deepwater Horizon could and should have been foreseen and prevented, he argues, were it not for the the cosy and cronyish relationship between regulators and companies. There is too much reliance on "the wink and the nod" between the two sides.

This story, however, is almost completely lost by the constant use of industry jargon and technical language. Terms are explained in the multiple pages at the back but, especially on a kindle, having to check so many words and phrases makes for a very slow read that is entirely without flow.

What makes this so frustrating is that Cavnar can write with eloquence in understandable terms. He describes how wells have the power "to talk to you...You just have to understand the language". He explains that the well that destroyed the deepwater had been warning of its dangers in that very language. Yet the team on the rig were not equipped to hear or respond.

Yet for every sentence like this, we get five paragraphs discussing technical details in dense terms.

I can't help but think that a more judicious editor or even non-technical co-author would have created a much more accessible telling of what happened in the Deepwater Horizon.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is one life's weird little ironies that Macondo, the well blowout that led to the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, shares a name with the fictional town in Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. Cavnar's account of BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster starts with a quote from Marquez and gets more surreal from there. The author is an old oil industry hand and he clearly knows his stuff, although the book was seemingly rushed to press only weeks after the well was killed, so some of his narrative is speculative and lacking information that only came to light later. What results is an exciting and infuriating read, although not the most elegantly written or organized.

The pervasive oil industry jargon will be a stumbling block for a lot of people. There is a glossary, but some explanatory text and figures would go a long way toward illuminating the issues involved in drilling deepwater oil wells. As it is, you just have to roll with it and pick up some important clues from context. He does a great job presenting the facts of the incident, including the narrative of the blowout, the explosion that killed 11 workers, the sinking of the rig and the months long struggle to contain the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. He also provides valuable context into the oil industry and the weakness of government regulators from his years working in the industry. He ends up taking a "pox on all their houses" tone, slamming the industry and the regulators equally, but he comes up short on concrete solutions to either reform the industry or end our reliance on oil.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little heavy on the jargon in a few spots, and might have benefited from a diagram or two in the text for those not familiar with the layout of drilling rigs and blowout preventers. (There are diagrams are in the appendix, but they are not referred to in the main part of the book, which for those who don't skim the appendix first isn't very helpful.) But all in all a very readable account of the disaster and response.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read about the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in 2010. The author is an experienced oil and gas industry worker who recounts the explosion and subsequent cleanup. His descriptions may be a bit too detailed in some places for those unfamiliar with industry lingo, but he does a good job at presenting the overall culture of oil industry workers and struggle for power between the "Big Oil" production companies.

[Ian Bebbington · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poor grammar, needs diagrams, inconsistent level of detail, wanders into technologies author cannot be experienced in (titanic, appollo, etc). I thought middle east problems presaged oil having something to do with Jews and Arabs not just BP!?

[Tauzero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book, gave me lots of ideas.

[ERHolcomb]

Parts are hard to read if you know little about deep water oil wells.