American Petroleum Institute

Blowout Prevention Equipment Systems for Drilling Wells - Fourth Edition
 N STD 53

Annotation

Purpose

The purpose of this standard is to provide requirements on the installation and testing of blowout prevention equipment systems on land and marine drilling rigs (barge, platform, bottom-supported, and floating).

Blowout preventer equipment systems are comprised of a combination of various components. The following components are required for operation under varying rig and well conditions: a) blowout preventers (BOPs);

b) choke and kill lines;

c) choke manifolds;

d) control systems;

e) auxiliary equipment.

The primary functions of these systems are to confine well fluids to the wellbore, provide means to add fluid to the wellbore, and allow controlled volumes to be removed from the wellbore.

Diverters, shut-in devices, and rotating head systems (rotating control devices) are not addressed in this standard (see API 64 and API 16RCD, respectively); their primary purpose is to safely divert or direct flow rather than to confine fluids to the wellbore.

Well Control

Procedures and techniques for well control are not included in this standard since they are beyond the scope of equipment systems contained herein.

BOP Installations

This standard contains a section pertaining to surface BOP installations followed by a section on subsea BOP installations.