Bp Oil Spill
On April 20, 2010 the beginning of the largest,most disastrous oil spill in the United States had begun. The oil leak was caused by an explosion that happened at approximately 10:00 p.m,killing eleven people and injuring seventeen others. Two days later, the rig sank and started to leak oil and gas from the well. After about three months of the well (Macondo) leaking oil, it finally got capped off on July 15. Within those three months, the well had leaked 134 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The leak did not stop there though. It spread all the way to other countries and islands as well. The well did not get fully sealed until September 19, 2010.
British Petroleum PLC, also very commonly known as BP (the owner of the well) …show more content…
The crew saw mud and gas pouring onto the floor of the rig. All the members of the crew instantly attempted to close the valve in the Blowout Preventer, which was intended to shut off the flow of high-pressure oil and gas from the well, but failed to seal the well because the drill pipe buckled for reasons that are still unknown. The crew could have redirected the flow of the mud and gas away from Deepwater Horizon and into the gulf, but instead they directed it to a separator device that was designed to separate gas from a mudflow similar to what was happening but in much smaller quantities. The separator got overwhelmed and flammable gas began to flood the …show more content…
Closing down the ventilation systems would have prevented gas from reaching ignition sources, like Deepwater’s engine, but the system was in manual mode not allowing them to be engaged. The explosion destroyed the control lines which the crew needed to shut down the blowout preventer’s safety valves. But that wasn’t the only problem in the safety system. The device has two separate safety systems. Those systems are designed to shut the valves automatically when the blowout preventer loses contact with the surface. Both of the systems failed because one of them had a defective switch and the other had a bad battery.
This tragedy had a very big impact on British Petroleum, Cameron, Transocean, and Halliburton. The cost of the settlement is twenty billion dollars. British Petroleum took full legal responsibility over it, but the other mentioned companies are also paying some of the settlement in an agreement. Under the settlement agreement, Cameron payed BP two hundred and fifty million dollars and it immediately went to the twenty billion they owe. As of today, BP has paid out 7.5 billion dollars to individuals, businesses, and government
British Petroleum PLC, also very commonly known as BP (the owner of the well) …show more content…
The crew saw mud and gas pouring onto the floor of the rig. All the members of the crew instantly attempted to close the valve in the Blowout Preventer, which was intended to shut off the flow of high-pressure oil and gas from the well, but failed to seal the well because the drill pipe buckled for reasons that are still unknown. The crew could have redirected the flow of the mud and gas away from Deepwater Horizon and into the gulf, but instead they directed it to a separator device that was designed to separate gas from a mudflow similar to what was happening but in much smaller quantities. The separator got overwhelmed and flammable gas began to flood the …show more content…
Closing down the ventilation systems would have prevented gas from reaching ignition sources, like Deepwater’s engine, but the system was in manual mode not allowing them to be engaged. The explosion destroyed the control lines which the crew needed to shut down the blowout preventer’s safety valves. But that wasn’t the only problem in the safety system. The device has two separate safety systems. Those systems are designed to shut the valves automatically when the blowout preventer loses contact with the surface. Both of the systems failed because one of them had a defective switch and the other had a bad battery.
This tragedy had a very big impact on British Petroleum, Cameron, Transocean, and Halliburton. The cost of the settlement is twenty billion dollars. British Petroleum took full legal responsibility over it, but the other mentioned companies are also paying some of the settlement in an agreement. Under the settlement agreement, Cameron payed BP two hundred and fifty million dollars and it immediately went to the twenty billion they owe. As of today, BP has paid out 7.5 billion dollars to individuals, businesses, and government