Gulf of Mexico oil spill is one of the largest naval oil spill occurred in the history of oil industry. The accident took place in April 2010 in Gulf of Mexico where British Petroleum was operating. The explosion cost life of eleven people working on the location and injured various other people. The oil spill from the well for three consecutive months and exploded around 4.9 million barrel crude oil in the sea. After the incident the oil well was declared un-operational by the central government. The oil released during the accident spread over a large area and cost for huge damage to the environment including marine habitation, wildlife and fishing industry.
“Deepwater Horizon” was a huge massive semi-submersible drilling unit which can drill under the water up to 3000 meters. “Deepwater Horizon” was developed by Hyundai Heavy Ind and was on lease by British Petroleum when accident occurred. At the time of explosion the rig was drilling Macondo prospect well with depth of around 10700 m. British Petroleum was the main operator and developer of that well with 65 percent share. On 20 April, 2010 the accident occurred when methane gas exploded from the well due to high pressure and prolonged to drilling riser. The gas further released to the rig where it was exploded. Deepwater Horizon descends into the water after burning for around 36 hours.
According to coast guards, it is difficult to recover the oil. The area around Mancondo well that is operated by British petroleum was surfaced by the oil. Even till year 2012 the oil is still leaking from the source well. The incident attracted more investigation into the matter to further stop the oil seepage. The damages predicted due to accident were quite high; however, the accident destroyed marine life and greatly impacted related business industries. Some studies confirmed that the oil after release became very toxic (52 times more Toxic) and allowed various harmful carbon substances to pollute ground water.
The spread of oil polluted various beaches and made life difficult. The spread of oil is continuously increasing; tar balls were noticed and found by fishermen. The oil still covering the bottom of sea is and scientists are unable to remove that. The areas polluted by the oil grew from 210 km² in 2010 to 790 km² in year 2011. The accident destroyed marine life up to great extent that till today impact is very much visible: whales, dolphin and other fishes are still dying at higher rate and number of mutated species increased significantly.
A number of other oil spills occurred at different places of the world. Enbridge oil spill, Great Barrier Reef oil spill, , red sea oil spill, Barataria bay oil spill, Odyssey Oil Spill, 1988 and yellow river oil spill are some examples of the major oil spills that took place recently. In all these cases a large amount of fossil fuel was wasted which caused major monetary loss. Extracting Oil from ocean is a risky task and such incidents keep occurring though technical advancements have made the task easy and smooth but nobody can prevent accidents from taking place
Gulf of Mexico oil spill is an unfortunate incident that no one wants to remember mainly because of the deaths that took place during the said accident. This incident should be always taken as a lesson for the professionals who are engaged in the oil spilling. All the mistakes should be avoided that was committed somehow in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill
It has been observed in a number of cases that companies hire people who even lack professional qualification and knowledge for the task. Companies in order to save their money hire cheap labor but several incidents suggest that these tricks become costlier and cause the incidents that are irreparable. This is the duty of the people who are engaged in such works to take all the required care in order to perform their tasks without causing any damage. Loosing oil is reparable but it causes severe threat to the environment and other creatures. Fishes and other sea animals die when such incidents occur and their existence is challenged because of someone else mistakes
After having observed the abovementioned analysis of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, it is good to conclude that oil companies should take utmost care while digging out oil from the ocean. Though accidents can not be controlled but taking care of certain things may reduce the dangers of such a bad incident. Only professional people who are expert of this task should be hired and engaged by the companies for the digging. Responsibility should always be taken in case of any wrong occurs. The victims should be duly compensated and the ocean should be properly cleaned up by the company.
Works Cited
BP, National Commission on the. Deep Water: The Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2011.
Farrell, Courtney. The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. Minnesota: ABDO, 2011.
Landau, Elaine. Oil Spill!: Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. MN, USA: Millbrook Press, 2011.
—. The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. Minnesota: ABDO, 2011.
Medicine, Institute of. Assessing the Effects of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill on Human Health. Washington, D.C.: f National Academies Press, 2010.
Scholastic, Inc. Oil Spill: Disaster. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2010.
"The New York Times." 15 November 2012. topics.nytimes. 12 December 2012
William R. Freudenburg & Robert Gramling. Blowout in the Gulf: The BP Oil Spill Disaster and the Future of Energy in America. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2011.
