In addition to insufficient ram pressure , a '' New York Times '' investigation of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill listed other problem areas for deepwater blowout preventers . If one of the threaded joints between pipe sections is positioned within a shear ram , the ram would probably not cut through it , because the joints are " nearly indestructable " . Requiring two shear rams in every blowout preventer may help to avoid this problem and to avoid some types of " single-point failure " . Other technologies that might improve the reliability of BOPs include backup systems for sending commands to the BOP and more powerful submersibles that connect to the BOP 's hydraulics system
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Offshore oil spill prevention and response