1.Introduction and Aims
The BP oil spill began on 20 April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. On April 20, 2010, 126 workers on the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon were in the process of temporarily closing the exploratory Macondo oil well. That evening, an explosion abroad the drilling unit set off a chain of events that eventually led to the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon. Eleven crewmembers lost their lives and others were seriously injured, as fire engulfed and ultimately destroyed the rig.
It is considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry, an estimated 8% to 31% larger in volume than the previously largest, the Ixtoc I oil spill. The flow was stopped on 15 July 2010 and after several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on 19 September 2010.
1.1. The Facts about the BP Spill Oil
1. Following the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, a sea-floor oil gusher flowed for 87 days, until it was capped on 15 July 2010. Federal science and engineering teams, citing data that are “the most accurate to date,” estimated that 53,000 barrels of oil a day were pouring from the well just before BP was able to cap it on July 15.
The US Government estimated the total discharge at 4.9 million barrels of oil with plus or minus 10% uncertainty have gushed from BP’s well.
2. According to the satellite images, the spill directly impacted 68,000 square miles (180,000 km2) of ocean, which is comparable to the size of Oklahoma. Also, 16,000 total miles of coastline have been affected, including the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. By early June 2010, oil had washed up on 125 ...
... middle of paper ...
...arch, 2014).
The New York Times, (Aug 2010), Gulf Spill Is the Largest of Its Kind, ScientistsSay.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/us/03spill.html?_r=2&fta=y&. (03 Aug 2010, accessed 22 March, 2014).
The Telegraph, (2010), BP leak the world's worst accidental oil spill. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7924009/BP-leak-the-worlds-worst-accidental-oil-spill.html. (03 Aug 2010, accessed 22 March, 2014).
Viegas, J. (2013), Record Dolphin, Sea Turtle Deaths Since Gulf Spill. http://news.discovery.com/animals/whales-dolphins/record-dolphin-sea-turtle-deaths-since-gulf-spill-130402.htm . (02 Apr 2013, accessed 25 March, 2014)
Webb, T. (13 May 2010). "BP boss admits job on the line over Gulf oil spill". http://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/may/13/bp-boss-admits-mistakes-gulf-oil-spill . The Guardian. (13 May 2010, accessed 05 Apr 2014).
April 20, 2010, a tragic disaster struck the Gulf Coast. British Petroleum deepwater Horizon oil rig cracked from three places and raw oil leaking into the sea. .it was considered that over 60,000 barrels of oil a day are mixing with Gulf water and Oil spread over 70 miles to 130 miles into the sea and can be seen from space.
Oil provides us with many necessities in our lives. Cosmetics, medicines, cleaning products, asphalt, food, plastic, and most importantly, petroleum. But of course, nothing comes without a price. The oil that makes our lives so much more convenient, is also ironically gradually killing the environment, this very Earth that we live in. One of the biggest environmental concerns come from oil spills. Oil spill is defined as “ the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution.” Let’s look at some examples of these oil spills.
On April 20, 2010, an explosion occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, on the Deep water Horizon oil drilling rig which rented by BP. There were 126 workers on board at the time of the explosion. Fifteen of them were injured, and eleven died. Two days later the oil drilling rig sank, the leaving oil spewing into the Gulf. This was the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry, the oil had been leaking for almost three months.
British Petroleum (“BP”) is the company that is being blamed for the incident. Employing 80,000 people, BP is an international oil company that puts different technology to use for finding oil and gas under the Earth’s surface. One of the oilrigs, Deepwater Horizon has drilled 35,000 ft. making it to be the deepest drilling of oil and gas (Walsh). Deepwater Horizon was drilling in the Gulf of Mexico about 52 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip. After the explosion, helicopters searched for 11 crewmembers that reported missing. 17 people were injured (BP Internal Investigation Team). A day later, the rig was found upside down (BP Oil Spill Timeline). The cost to clean up the damage is approximately $760 million (Walsh).
The Deepwater Horizon Incident, also referred to as the BP Oil Spill or BP Oil Disaster , was considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in which eleven people went missing and were never found. The reason this was such a catastrophe was because the oil rig in which this occurred on was about 40 miles away and was not reached by the Coast Guard in time for the fire to be extinguished or prevented from getting bigger.
In April 2010, a gas release and consequent explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig located in the Gulf of Mexico, which BP was leasing from Transocean, a Swiss company. The explosion killed 11 workers, injured 17 others, and dumped
Ejikeme, Anene. “The Oil Spills We Don’t Hear About.” The New York Times 4 June 2010. Print.
On March 24, 1989, the ship loaded with oil tanker Exxon Valdez entered Alaska’s Prince William Sound. At 12:04 am, the ship hit a Bligh Reef and it tore open the hull releasing 11 million gallons of oil into the water. Affecting the environment. Soon, there was a storm that spread the oil more than 1000 miles of coastlines. The ship was from the ExxonMobil Corporation, so the corporation ended up paying a billion of fine for this disaster. This was the largest oil spill in U.S History and tested the abilities of other organizations to prepare for, and respond to this kind of disaster.
The explosion killed 11 people while injuring 17 others. Underwater cameras revealed the BP pipe was leaking oil and gas on the ocean floor about 42 miles off the coast of Louisiana. By the time the well was capped on July 15, 2010 (87 days later), an estimated 3.19 million barrels of oil had leaked into the Gulf ("Gulf Oil Spill"). 16,000 total miles of coastline have been affected, including the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. A method of treating the oil spill is in-situ burning or burning oil in a contained area on the surface of the water, which has negative effects on the environment such as plant damage, long-term impacts on vegetation, and residues that are difficult to remove. Responders also used 5.5 million feet of boom, a barrier placed in water, to collect and absorb oil ("11 Facts About the BP Oil Spill"). Over 8,000 animals (birds, turtles, and mammals) were reported dead just 6 months after the spill, including many that were already on the endangered species list ("11 Facts About the BP Oil
April 20, 2010, an explosion killed 11 people instantly and injured 17 more. But the explosion did much more than that. The event occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, off the Coast of Louisiana, on an oilrig. Sometime after the rig exploded, it collapsed. There was now a much bigger problem on hand. 5,000 feet below the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, oil began to gush into the open waters of the gulf. Over the span of 87 days, oil continued to spew hundreds of barrels of oil from the Macondo wellhead. Once the leak was finally one hundred percent ceiled on July 15, 2010, the wellhead had leaked more than 130 gallons of oil into the gulf; therefore making the incident the largest accidental oil spill ever.
The Exxon Valdez was the largest offshore oil spill in the U.S. until the BP oil spill. The Exxon Valdez spill released over 10 million gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean. The spill effected over 1,100 ...
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, located in the Gulf of Mexico exploded killing 11 workers and injuring 17. The oil rig sank a day-and-a-half later. The spill was referred to as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BP oil spill, Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and BP oil disaster. It was first said that little oil had actually leaked into the ocean but a little over a month later the estimate was 12,000-19,000 barrels of crude oil being leaked per day. Many attempts were made to stop the leak but all failed until they capped the leak on July 15, 2010, and on September 19 the federal government declared the well “effectively dead.” In the three months that it took to finally put a stop the leak, 4.9 million barrels of oil were released into the ocean. The spill caused considerable damage to marine and wildlife habitats and the Gulf’s fishing and tourism industries. The White House energy advisor, Carol Browner, goes as far to say that the Deepwater oil spill is the “worst environmental disaster the US has faced.”
Webb, T 2010, BP's clumsy response to oil spill threatens to make a bad situation worse, The Guardian, accessed 28 March 2014,
Almost every year ocean wildlife, birds and other animals are killed or seriously injured due to tanker ship oil spills that could be prevented. Oil spills happen mainly due to captain and crew errors. As they travel across the ocean they become careless, non-observant, and make simple mistakes that cost millions of dollars as well as the lives and habitats of animals in the area and farther. Although, there are many other reasons for oil spills such as weather conditions, illegal dumping, countries at war or terrorists attempting to get a countries attention. There are other ways of transporting oil without having the chance of a spill causing the destruction of ecosystems, such as, by train or pipelines. The most recent oil spill took place March 29, 2013, when a pipeline ruptured from the Athabasca oil sands in Mayflower, Arkansas, about 25 miles northwest of Little Rock. It was reported that 5,000−7,000 barrels of oil were spilled. This spill proves that even today there are still very harsh oil spills happening across the world and that there is no perfect or real efficient way to safely transport oil.
Peter Lehner. What should We Learn from BP's Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico[J].World