Bill Savela, P. E.

Properly functioning blowout preventers ­— devices that keep oil wells from leaking under pressure — are critical pieces of equipment in an oilfield. Multiple blowout preventer (BOP) devices are typically stacked on top of one another for redundancy surrounding the drill pipe at the wellhead, Figure 1. It is their task to center the drill pipe, regulate the pressure of fluid down the well hole, and either clamp or cut off the drill pipe to minimize leaks.