BP Oil Spill Crisis Essay

On April 20, 2010, the petroleum industry suffered the largest maritime disaster oil spill in its history known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig that had been working on a well for BP in the Gulf exploded and went up in flames. Subsequently, massive amounts of oil spilled out into the water, threatening the marine life and those living on the shore. The fire burned for 36 hours before the rig sank into the ocean, leaking dangerous chemicals into the water. Hydrocarbons and oil continued to leak into the Gulf of Mexico for 87 days before they managed to seal the well. “The Gulf spill, which left 11 workers dead and 17 injured, is about the size of Rhode Island, running across the northern Gulf of Mexico between the mouth of the Mississippi River and Florida. It runs wide, threatening the coastlines, and deep, traveling beneath about 5,000 feet of water and 13,000 feet under the seabed,” (Emami, 2010). BP faced an angry uproar from the media, consumers, and environmentalists all over the world. The economy and the environment suffered greatly because of this incident. As investigations began, speculations quickly arose about the morals and capability of the company. The one positive image of BP had been shattered. Customers lost faith in the company and criticized the actions of its executives. Tony

The Deepwater Horizon was not owned by BP, but leased through a company called Transocean. Transocean is understood to be one the largest offshore drilling contracting companies in the world. With BP leasing the equipment from Transocean, it cost an estimated $533,000 a day. Many would come to believe that the costly daily expense would also be the reason BP overlooked issues such as not having enough centralizers. The machine was designed to operate with 24 with only six on hand BP would soon make a decision that they would later regret.

On April 20, 2010, one of BP’s drilling wells below the Gulf of Mexico exploded and caused a disastrous oil spill. Thousands of barrels of crude oil flowed into the gulf every day, causing widespread pollution in the Gulf of Mexico (Law Brain, n.d). The habitats of many bird species are threatened by this oil spill.

On April 20th 2010 an explosion on an oil ridge of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, was the cause of the greatest environmental disaster in history of the United States. This explosion took the lives of eleven men who were working on the ridge, and also ruptured an oil line, which dumped more than 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This oil spill significantly affected the wildlife of the gulf coast, killing hundreds of fishes, birds, and reptile that call the gulf coast home. The spill also affected global supply chain for major industries.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill or the BP oil spill refers to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which flowed for three months in 2010. The spill was a result of the explosion of Deepwater Horizon, which drilled on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. The explosion killed 11 men working on the platform and injured 17 others (Summarized from Wikipedia article on: “Deepwater Horizon oil spill” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill )

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill occurred on April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. This oil spill was the largest spill in history in front of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. This oil spill released about 4.9 million barrels of oil into the ocean. This spill not only wreck havoc on the marine life but also the economic players that depended on ocean such as fisherman, tourism, and offshore drilling located along the gulf coast. Along will the spill the oil rig which was named Deepwater Horizon also went up in flames. This proved that the issue went far beyond just an oil rig that blew a line. Since this oil spill had drastic impacts all along the coast, BP which was the most liable for this incident faced criminal charges based on what happened. BP which knew the risks of deep ocean drilling failed to take the necessary safety procedures to reduce the risks of such incident occurring, thus was the reasoning behind placing most of the fault on them and not the other companies. The lack of regulatory oversight led to the issues and cost-cutting procedures opened the rig up to possible malfunctions like the one that occurred. During the spill into the gulf, BP sealed the well with cement which seemed to stop a majority of the oil from escaping the well. BP also recognized that the well was “dead” which was proven wrong when scientists still could conclude was leaking minor amounts of oil into the ocean. This spill not only proved to be harmful to the environment but also

Still people make the argument that oil is just too important to stop drilling and that if anything we should drill more. Again author Margaret Haerens talks about how “According to the nation academy of Sciences, current cleanup methods can only remove a small fraction of the oil spilled into the ocean, leaving the remaining oil to continue affecting ocean ecosystems over time” (126). The long term impacts of offshore spills continue to corrupt the oceans and who knows when they will completely be gone. The effects of the oil directly on sea life such as sea birds, fish, shellfish, and other sea life are extremely dangers. “Studies have shown that tiny amounts of oil – as little as one part per billion – can harm pink salmon and cause their eggs to fail” (Haerens Margaret). Imagine swimming in the ocean when a large pool of toxic oils comes floating along right into you when you are trying to enjoy a day at the beach. Not only is offshore drilling have one of the longest lasting ecological impacts on society and living things on and off shore, it effects our economy as well.

The e Deepwater Horizon oil spill at the Macondo well began on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. An explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on 20 April 2010 killed 11 people and caused almost 5 million barrels of oil to flow into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill covered 68,000 square miles of land and sea and triggered a response effort involving the use of nearly 2 million gallons of dispersant chemicals (Pallardy). Considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in history, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DHOS) resulted in widespread environmental and economic damage, the exact nature of which is only beginning to be understood (Shultz 59). This paper will address the causes of this unmitigated ecological disaster and discuss steps that need to be taken to prevent a similar disaster from occurring again.

The BP disaster has reviled studies of the effects of oil in the deep environment and the surface of the Gulf during vital seasons. For example there are still a lot if impacts that affect the corals in the deep, whales, tuna, dolphins, and whale sharks (Kinane, 2016). Since the spill almost 5 years ago, there has been another spill that occurred a few months ago. Nearly 90,000 gallons of oil spilled earlier in May this year in the Gulf of Mexico (Kinane, 2016). This oil spilled affected the wildlife and marine environment. In addition, this leak from Shell Oil occurred as Government officials were discussing new offshore leases. In comparison to the Three Mile Island’s accident, the incident was the result of a combination of factors. These factors include personnel error, component failures, and design deficiencies that permanently changed the nuclear industry and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2014). Since then, there led to permanent changes in how the Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulates its licensees which reduces the risk to public health and safety (United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2014). Compared to the ongoing in spills that keep occurring in the Gulf I can only assume that impact of the Three Mile Island’s accident had more of an impact on energy policy than the BP spill in the Gulf of

The movie, Deepwater Horizon, was inspired by the events of the BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010. It all started with engineer, Mike Williams and the rig supervisor, Jimmy Harrell. The two men were called up, along with a few more crew members, to fly out to Deepwater Horizon and work on the rig for three weeks. Upon arrival, they were informed that the team whose job it was to run the cement log on the concrete foundation of the rig were leaving early without doing their job. Mr. “Don” Vidrine, a top BP company man, was the enforcer of this order. Don sent them on their way because the rig was behind schedule and had lost too much money to be attempting to waste more on something that was, in his mind, unimportant. The result of that decision led to a catastrophe.

My concerns are the animals that are continuing to be harmed by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was a deadly accident that caused a lot of harm; it destroyed Gulf fishing and tourism industries. The spill injured 17 people and 11 people lost their lives. The marine

On April 20, the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico led to the largest accidental release of oil into marine waters in history. As a result, a huge loss of money and life was caused and affected serious environmental damage to wild animals and water pollution. BP was accused of their irresponsibility that it took 87 days before the well was closed and sealed. BP’s shares

Over 8000 animals were reported dead 6 months after the spill, including many that were on the endangered species list (7). Subsequently, seafood prices increased affecting restaurants and supermarkets. People abstained from going to beaches covered in oil, water sports and other aquatic attractions which meant that all organisations involved in tourism such as hotels, tour operators, restaurants and boat rental companies were affected (1). Furthermore, the method of cleaning up the oil by “in-situ burning” (burning oil in a contained area on the surface of the water), had adverse effects on the environment as the burning off of the oil led to mutations and increased mortality due to pollution.

BP oil spill is ranked as the largest environmental disaster in the world history. As the oil from BP spill washes ashore, people on Gulf Coast are suffering huge damages they have never met before. The U.S. government estimates that up to 60,000 barrels of oil a day are spewing out from the damaged BP drilling rig to Gulf of Mexico. It has ruined the shoreline, killed animal and sea life, threaten the ecosystem and harmed the tourism and fishing in Louisiana. After the spilling happened, US government and BP has been struggling for plugging the hole deep under the water which is known as Top-kill, but failed.  Right after the leak happened, the Obama administration has claimed that BP alone has to take the whole responsibility of the oil

Beginning in the 1980’s, offshore oil production showed to be a solution for the United States’ energy issues and national security. In the beginning, the wells were in shallow water, but once these wells were dry, drilling in the deeper water began. Although there were drawbacks, such as the difficulty to drill and operate a well at such tremendous depths and because of these depths robots would have to troubleshoot maintenance problems instead of humans. Additionally, in deep waters, special drilling rigs are needed. There are two types of drilling rigs, the drillship, and the semi-submersible. The Deepwater Horizon was a semi-submersible rig that was used to excavate the well on the Macondo slope in the Gulf of Mexico. Once the excavation was done, another rig would arrive to extract the oil. Companies like British