NEW ORLEANS -- A complete system of technologies and techniques to stop and clean up another potential oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is up and running, the heads of two well containment companies declared here yesterday.

A drill conducted in July many miles offshore by the Marine Well Containment Co. (MWCC) went off without a hitch and met the approval of the industry and government regulators, that company's chief said.

And while no similar exercise has been attempted yet by the smaller Helix Well Containment Group (HWCG), many in the industry expect one will occur sometime soon. In the meantime, desk simulations and the testing of forward deployed capping stacks and other subsea equipment that will be needed in the event of a leak has that company's CEO confident that it is ready to respond if needed.

At the final day of a deepwater technology symposium here hosted by the Society of Petroleum Engineers, MWCC Chief Executive Martin Massey and HWCG head David Coatney provided industry insiders with an overview of where well containment capacity stands as drilling activity ramps up in the Gulf of Mexico.

Both groups have spent two years organizing their respective nonprofit organizations, and developing new technologies and comprehensive action plans with help from the federal government, the American Petroleum Institute and others. As Gulf drilling activity approaches pre-Macondo well blowout levels, both leaders told oil and gas company officials they are ready to lend a hand should another disaster occur.

"Our mission at MWCC is to be continuously ready to respond to a well control incident in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico," Massey said. "I can tell you that we have now effectively validated our ability to achieve that mission, and that is very good news for our industry."

During a presentation, Massey provided a step-by-step explanation of a mock well-blowout drill held with Royal Dutch Shell PLC last month. The drill simulated a Macondo-like blowout and catastrophic loss of well control at the Walker Ridge 536 offshore site, about 200 miles south of Louisiana, lying beneath 6,950 feet of water.

Massey said MWCC estimates that it can deploy its capping stack system to a blowout site within seven days of the start of an incident. The July drill confirmed that, he said, and MWCC successfully responded to a sudden report of a spill. Government overseers gave MWCC and its members a one-week window within which they were to expect a spill report but were not told precisely what day the drill would begin.

When it did happen, MWCC moved swiftly to pass its capping stack off to Shell, while both mobilized contractors to fix it to the wellhead and stop the simulated leak. Designed to perform at 10,000 pounds per square inch (psi) of pressure, MWCC's stack held up under a 10,800 psi test for 20 minutes without incident, Massey said.

"It was a tremendous accomplishment for our organization, and I could not be more pleased with the successful outcome," he said.

"We really practiced this just like it was a real event."

'Our preparedness is an ongoing thing'

Likewise, Coatney at HWCG says his organization is equally ready to respond if an incident like the Gulf spill were to occur again today.

He said HWCG's preparations are a continual process that requires the group to constantly test and maintain equipment in a ready-to-deploy state and to confirm the command structure and roles that individuals and companies are expected to play in the event of another spill.

Coatney did not mention when or if HWCG would conduct a real-world drill similar to what MWCC undertook last month. He did say his group was working to finalize a "regional containment demonstration" with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and routinely conducts in-house drills and training to stay prepared.

"Our preparedness is an ongoing thing, as well as training," Coatney said. "To date, we've had four large tabletop exercises that have had in excess of 200 participants in each of those."

HWCG has grown to 24 members, and Coatney said he expects more growth to follow. Its base in Ingleside, Texas, where the capping stacks are housed ready for deployment, passed BSEE inspection in January, and HWCG has secured a spill response command center in the Houston suburb of Katy that can be made available to it at a moment's notice, he added.

Expansion plans are in the works.

Coatney said HWCG has been in talks with oil and gas officials in Mexico and the Caribbean Sea to arrange for its equipment to be made available to operations outside the United States if necessary. He also noted that HWCG is working with Oil Spill Response Ltd. to build four additional capping stack systems "that will be strategically located in oil provinces around the globe."

Both HWCG and MWCC boast similar capabilities. They say they are maintaining two capping stacks systems each, one version designed to handle 10,000 psi and the other capable of operating at 15,000 psi.

The current technology is designed to operate in up to 10,000 feet of water, but the companies are exploring technologies that can handle greater depths.

The new processes and technologies in place in the Gulf of Mexico today will "be to the advantage of all the industry, from the operator to the regulator as well," Coatney said.