According to a May 23 report from the Houston Chronicle, the Deepwater Horizon disaster has raised questions about the adequacy of blowout preventers, invented nearly 90 years ago, which remain the oil and gas industry's last line of defense in controlling runaway wells. The incident has cast doubt on whether the technology of the blowout preventer, or BOP, has kept pace with the industry's rapid expansion into more complicated deepwater fields.
(Source: Houston Chronicle)
