Bp Oil Spill

Deep Water Horizon Water Accident

It was the evening of April 20, 2010. British Petroleum (BP) was having a normal day. All systems were in check, and everything was running fine. Later that night, everything changed. It is know known as one of the biggest, if not the biggest, oil spill of all time. As one may know, anything can happen in the blink of an eye—especially in the oil industry.

While under lease, BP planned to drill off of the shores of Louisiana with a fifth-generation deepwater semi-submersible rig, which was owned by Transocean. (Macondo Prospect, Gulf of Mexico, United States of America). The rig itself was made in 1998, but was finished in production in 2001. Deep Water Horizon was built to sustain large depths into the ocean. It could reach up to 30,000 ft. It operated at 18,000 ft. just before its demise (Macondo Prospect, Gulf of Mexico, United States of America).

The spill took place off of the Gulf Coast of Mexico. In an area known as the Macondo Prospect. “The Macondo prospect is situated on Mississippi Canyon block 252, right offshore Louisiana” (Macondo Prospect, Gulf of Mexico, United States of America). At the time of the accident, it was located 52 miles southeast of the Louisiana Port of Venice.

The cause of the BP oil spill was due to a shortage of time, and of technology. BP released a statement as to what caused the abrupt spill:

The accident involved a well integrity failure, followed by a loss of hydrostatic control of the well. This was followed by a failure to control the flow from the well with the blowout preventer (BOP) equipment, which allowed the release and subsequent ignition of hydrocarbons. Ultimately, the BOP emergency functions failed to seal the well after the initial explosions.

BP concluded that while they themselves were at fault, Transocean, the owner of the oilrig, was more at fault by selling faulty equipment, and Halliburton Inc., the contractor in charge of all cementation, was at fault for...