Introduction
British Petroleum (BP) is a multinational oil and gas company. Based on market cap, it was the fifth largest energy company in 2013. ("IHS Energy 50"). Like many petroleum based companies, BP is often under fire from environmental activists for not being environmentally cautious, but during the year of 2010, BP experienced a disaster that would cripple it’s reputation far past that of the average petroleum energy company.
Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater offshore oil drilling rig licensed by BP. It was drilling the deepest oil well in US history, in the Gulf of Mexico. On April 20th, 2010, there was an explosion on the oil rig that caused it to burn and sink. This resulted in the deaths of 11 workers, the injury of 16 others, and a massive oil spill. With a volume of 4.9 million barrels pumped into the gulf (“On Scene Coordinator Report Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill”), and a total covered area of 68 thousand square miles ("BP / Gulf Oil Spill"), it is considered the largest environmental disaster in US history. (Zeller).
The effect of the spill was massive environmental damage, and large economic losses for businesses in the area. The tourism and fishing industries were hit especially hard. Naturally, the reaction from the public was extremely negative. Petitions arose, and Facebook pages were created, that urged people to boycott the company. There were also many protests at BP gas stations. The band Korn even vowed to never use BP products in their
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
The BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill was one of the worst spills occurred in the history of the oil industry because the way it was carried out and the way it occurred. The had affected the people worldwide it’s didn’t just affect the people who were onboard or the company because had effects on the environment, share prices were dropping, the company had to pay huge amount into the fines to the governments and also, they had to pay huge amount to clean the gulf water and the affected shore area. The total amount BP spend in fines was about the $56.4 billion. This spill was worse than the spill occurred in Exxon Valdez because it damaged the shoreline of four states threatening more than 65000 acres of land to be damaged. Over 8000 animals
BP positively anticipated that with their new, tested equipment, there would less likely be a huge environmental effect. In the actual plan of the oil drilling, BP states that in case a spill would occur, “Currents and microbial degradation would remove the oil from the water column or dilute the constituents to background levels” (Naomi Klein 4). Therefore, BP falsely predicted that the ocean would just clean up the mess itself. The warrant that the BP Corporation had failed to plan any immediate actions in case of a phenomenon, like the Gulf Coast oil spill, is indeed true. When the Deepwater oil rig ruptured, BP was nowhere in sight. Even one of BP’s spokesman stated: “I don't think anybody foresaw the circumstance that we're faced with now” (Naomi Klein 4). BP was wrong in believing that earth would easily comply with such technological advances. Similar to BP, most of the top oil companies refrained from proper preparations; spending thirty nine billion on new provisions for oil and gas, and only twenty million on research for safety and prevention. The lack of investments on important procedures and precautions clearly has affected the amount of damage caused to our
On April 20, 2010, a blast and fire on board the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, roughly 50 miles off the Louisiana shore, killing 11 individuals and triggering the biggest offshore oil leak in American history. The rig had been in the last periods of drilling an exploratory well for BP, the British oil mammoth. When the well was topped three months later, an expected 4.9 million barrels of raw petroleum had filled the Gulf. The calamity started when a surge of gas from the well shot up a riser pipe to the rigs’ stage, where it set off a progression of blasts and an enormous burst occurred. Of the 126 individuals on
The moral obligations including the legal of the wild and coral life at the location of the disaster need to be addressed. Mr. President of United States administration didn't address the issue several times and skipped to answer the questions of media raising doubts about the damage it created to the wild and coral life. The entire tourism industry along with the fishing industry was completed closed leading to many economic and financial crises in few states of the United States (David, 2013). For days, the animals in the sea, including the fish, dolphins were found on the shores of the Mississippi and Louisiana states and after careful medical review, they were poisoned because of the crude oil settled deep into the ocean. Ecological damage is very hard to measure and it could take few years to properly document the extent of damage created by the oil spill.
Problem Statement- Oil Spills are unfortunately a common and traumatic occurrence when drilling for oil in the ocean. Oil is a fossil fuel used to provide energy. It is drilled from our oceans, and when a mistake happens it results in oil spills such as the Gulf Shores Oil Spill.
The Deepwater Horizon spill occurred on 20 April 2010 and was caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that killed 11 workers and injured 17 more. The drilling rig, located 66 kilometers southeast of the Louisiana coast, left an oil gusher that was finally capped on July 15, almost 2 months later. This was the largest accidental marine oil spill in history and the largest offshore environmental disaster in the United States (Telegraph, New York Times, BBC News). It is estimated by scientists that over 4.9 million barrels of oil were released into the ocean, about half of the crude oil the U.S. imports each day and worth $400 million (Popular Mechanics, CBC News). About 1070 kilometers of coastline were contaminated.
Rig of the drilling Deep-water Horizon operated under British petroleum failed in its operation sinking below the seawater of the Gulf of Mexico on the 20th of April 2010. More than 11 workers lost their lives. After this incident, tons and tons of oil gushed from the main opening of the well, buried 1600 meters below the sea level.
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.
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 )
A crisis for BP began in the middle of 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on a British Petroleum project. The Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig exploded, sunk, and began leaking oil into the ocean for 87 days. It was finally capped on July 15th, 2010 after more than one failed attempt. Due to the explosion, eleven people went missing and were never found. This is among the most damaging ocean oil spills in the history of the oil industry, approximately 8% to 31% more volume than the previously recorded leak. The American government concluded that the amount of oil leaked was more than 4.9 million barrels or 210 million US gallons. [3]
British Petroleum (BP) is of one of the world 's largest energy companies, providing its customers with
The BP Oil Spill An Introductory Background - One of the most controversial ecological disasters in recent history focused on multinational British Petroleum and their Gulf of Mexico Operations. The Deepwater Oil Disaster began on April 20, 2010 with an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon Oil platform, killing 11, injuring 17. It was not until July 15th, however, that the leak was stopped by capping the wellhead, after releasing almost 5 million barrels (206 million gallons) of crude oil, or 53,000 barrels per day into the Gulf of Mexico. It was not until September 19th that the relief well process was complete and the U.S. Government, EPA, and Coast Guard agencies declared the well breach effectively stopped (Cavnar, 2010).
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
Deepwater Horizon oil Spill: BP’s drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico had an explosion in April 2010, causing the “largest oil spill catastrophe in the petroleum industry history”. It caused the death of 11 men and injury to several others. “More than 150,000 barrels of crude oil gushed into the sea, every day, for almost 5 months and up to 68,000 square miles of the Gulf 's surface were covered” (1).