Containment dome

A containment dome is a component of the system designed to contain the underwater blowout of an oil well such as occurred with the Macondo Well blowout from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This portion of the system is designed as a vacuum to suck up the products being expelled from a blowout and deliver those products to the containment system housed on the vessel moored above the blowout. Superior Energy Services is constructing this device to be used by Shell Oil Company on the barge Arctic Challenger as their "fourth line of defense" against a blowout in the Arctic drilling regions in the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea.

The fourth method, which remains in Bellingham, is the containment barge carrying the dome. "The containment system is an apparatus that would essentially hover over a compromised well funneling escaping oil, gas and water into this dome," Smith said.

The report of the National Commission on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling has some applicable quotes regarding cold water and hydrocarbon recovery which may apply to the application of this technology to Arctic drilling purposes.

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