Big white thing..

This is our BOP (Blow Out Preventer), it does what it says on the tin. Prevents blow outs.

This sits on top of the wellhead on the seabed and is connected to the rig by the marine riser, it's basically a big complex safety valve.

Blow outs occur when pressure travels back up the well carrying gas and other hydrocarbons with it. There are signs that we look for that this is happening and if required the BOP can be closed trapping everything inside the well.

If a BOP fails to close in this situation then it can be catastrophic as in the Deepwater Horizon a couple of years back.

We have spent the last 4 days recovering our BOP from the seabed just to repair a small seal roughly the size of a 2p coin that was leaking. That's how crucial this equipment is. Tomorrow we will start to return it back and carry on with the well.