At approximately 10 p.m. (CST) on Tuesday, April 20, an explosion rocked Transocean's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in what has escalated into one of the nation's largest offshore drilling & oil spill response incidents. After the initial blowout occurred, the leaking wellhead continued to feed the fire onboard the semisub until the rig ultimately collapsed beneath the deep waters of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Following the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon, the USCG initially thought the well had been contained. However, it quickly became clear that the well was still flowing, with estimates of about 5,000 bopd rising from the broken riser & pipe, with estimates having later been increased to approximately 50,000 bopd.

Operating alongside the U.S. Coast Guard & the Minerals Management Service, BP launched a comprehensive, pre-approved oil spill response plan following the April 22 sinking of the Deepwater Horizon. The company has dedicated millions of dollars per day to construction vessels, oil spill booms, ROVs, personnel, and three deepwater drilling rigs working to stop the flow of oil from the Macondo well.

A collaborative investigation conducted by the Coast Guard and Minerals Management Service to determine the cause of the incident is in progress, with multiple federal & state agency investigations also moving forward.

This incident provides a wide array of oil spill prevention & response techniques, processes and developments both in technology & services developed to counteract this Spill of National Significance (SONS). Our panel of the key participants & leading personnel from the operator, regulator & responder communities will give a fast-paced & information-packed review of what has been learned to date & what we expect to occur in the immediate future as a result of the DH Incident.

Topics Include:

• Deepwater Horizon: Offshore Spill Response Effectiveness/ Lessons Learned
• "Our generation's Exxon Valdez" How to plan for the future & can we have as large of a success?
• Deepwater Marine Fire Response
• Management of Claims
• Coordination of Assets
• ICS-Communication & Command
• Dealing with major media attention
• New technologies & how they were applied
• Dispersants-subsea & surface
• In-situ Burning
• Deepwater Boom & Skimmers
• Multi-jurisdictional issues
• Challenges in deepwater & coastal response

Session TBD