Which oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico?
Deepwater Horizon
On April 20, 2010, the oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, operating in the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded and sank resulting in the death of 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon and the largest spill of oil in the history of marine oil drilling operations.
What caused the explosion in the Gulf oil spill?
On the night of April 20 a surge of natural gas blasted through a concrete core recently installed by contractor Halliburton in order to seal the well for later use. It later emerged through documents released by Wikileaks that a similar incident had occurred on a BP-owned rig in the Caspian Sea in September 2008.
Who was responsible for the Gulf oil spill?
A New Orleans judge ruled on Thursday that British energy giant BP’s gross negligence led to the largest offshore oil spill in American history. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said BP was mostly to blame for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, which killed 11 people and spewed oil into the water for 87 days.
How many barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf?
3.19 million barrels
Over the course of 87 days, the damaged Macondo wellhead, a part of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, located around 5,000 feet beneath the ocean’s surface, leaked an estimated 3.19 million barrels (over 130 million gallons) of oil into the Gulf of Mexico—making the spill the largest accidental ocean spill in history.
Who was at fault for BP oil spill?
Donald Vidrine, one of the two BP rig supervisors overseeing the Deepwater Horizon when the rig exploded in April 2010, died Saturday at his home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana after a three-year battle with cancer.
Where was the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?
On April 20, 2010, BP’s mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon exploded, burned, and subsequently sank in the Gulf of Mexico 52 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana.
When did the Deepwater Horizon oil spill stop leaking?
After several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on September 19, 2010. Reports in early 2012 indicated that the well site was still leaking. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is regarded as one of the largest environmental disasters in American history.
How much money has been spent to stop the Gulf Oil Spill?
Taylor Energy has spent about $500 million to try to stop the spill, and it’s paying for pilots to fly over and monitor it. The company has reported less than a barrel of oil a day on the surface, but estimates vary widely. Contractors hired by the Coast Guard survey the Taylor Energy leak in March 2019.
Who was the owner of the oil rig in the Gulf?
The rig was owned by Taylor Energy, a New Orleans-based company, which managed to plug some of the 25 broken pipes, but the leak continued. Jonathan Henderson runs an environmental nonprofit called Vanishing Earth and worries about the impact on marine life.