Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

INTRODUCTION
Upon the evening of April 20th, 2010, a series of deadly explosions occurred within the oil rig giant, Deepwater Horizon, an immense offshore drilling platform, located 40 miles off the Louisiana coast (Steffy, 2011). These explosions were due to a defective blowout preventer and numerous gas leaks seeping up and through the well to the riser pipe, connecting to the rig, igniting fire. The efforts of attempting to save this flame ridden platform was lost on April 22, 2010, for the rig, Deepwater Horizon, sunk. As the rig’s drilling platform fell into the sea, the riser pipe, leading to the well, was crushed, left crumpled and leaking in several places on the ocean floor (Landau, 2011). Over 205.8 million gallons of crude oil was
It all started when earth’s crust began to shift. According to NASA (2013), The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “this movement created spaces between the land called sedimentary basins. These spaces were filled with water, forming oceans and large lakes.” Billions of microscopic life forms, plants, and animals thrived in these basins. Once these plants and animals died, the remains piled up on the basin floor. This organic matter would regularly decay and decompose in the environment, but, when anaerobic conditions are present, conditions where there is no oxygen available, they will be transformed into gases (NASA, 2013). The way this occurs, is through the weight of the future sedimentary layers compressed upon it, eliminating the oxygen present. These sedimentary layers of mud and sand combine with heat within the earth, turning them into rock. As the organic matter is buried deeper and deeper, temperatures can reach up to 100 to 150 degrees Celsius, cooking the organic matter into gooey black soup; oil (NASA, 2013). Oil itself has a very low density compared with many other rocks and fluids, causing it to float or rise above its surrounding formations. Due to this, oil will physically rise through the porous layers of rock, sometimes all the way up to earth’s surface, or when it reaches an impermeable layer (NASA, 2013). This leads to oil naturally seeping
The science applied in this stressful situation involved many experts in the field, creative engineers, and resolving mechanisms, involving vessels, dispersed chemicals, and remotely operated vehicles. First, the puncture of the sunken Deepwater Horizon was sealed using robotic aids. Next, a new mechanism, a dome like cap, was installed at the ocean floor for the leak of the well on May 7, 2010 (Landau, 2011). This cap was used to temporarily to benefit the cementing procedures and lengthy drilling process during the relief well operations, by stopping most of the wells oil flow. In addition, the new cap “enabled testing of well integrity and, depending on pressure measurements, could have been used to shut in the well.”(BP, 2015). A long-term solution was finally established, relief wells. Two relief wells, to plug and take stress off the existing well, would be drilled in case one missed the mark. Workers began drilling the relief wells on May 2, 2010 (Landau, 2011). They were completed on August 3rd, finally the workers could begin the “static kill” process (Landau, 2011). According to Kenneth J. Shenkman, the Senior Editor in Area Studies for World Book states, “The relief well intercepted the damaged well about 2 ½ miles beneath the seafloor. Engineers then pumped cement through the relief well, permanently sealing the damaged well.” The well was