Travelers Insurance has launched a free emergency-response planning guide for managing well blowouts in U.S. oil and gas land drilling. It is the first-ever such resource to provide a framework for establishing an early intervention and emergency-response plan to address the catastrophic impact of blowouts. "Establishing a plan and incorporating these procedures will help businesses to mitigate losses and quite possibly save lives," says Brian Krause, vice president and global practice leader for Travelers Oil & Gas, based in Houston. "The emergency-response plan will be a critical resource for well operators and contractors." The new plan draws on knowledge and experience from several well-known well-control specialists. Krause, a former president of Boots & Coots Inc., developed the Travelers' plan with Wild Well Control Inc., another Houston-based supplier of firefighting, well-control and related services worldwide. As a supplement to the well contractor's or operator's oil-spill contingency plan, the plan identifies procedures for handling crises. These range from routine well-control operations to situations involving a total loss of control that would necessitate the immediate mobilization of people and equipment. For more on this, see the June issue of Oil and Gas Investor. For a subscription, call 713-260-6441.