USA: One Year Since Deepwater Horizon Disaster

Today is the first anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that caused the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of offshore oil&gas industry.

The Deepwater Horizon was a 9-year-old semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit, a massive floating, dynamically positioned drilling rig that could operate in waters up to 8,000 feet (2,400 m) deep and drill down to 30,000 feet (9,100 m).The rig was built by South Korean company Hyundai Heavy Industries. It was owned by Transocean, operated under the Marshallese flag of convenience, and was under lease to BP from March 2008 to September 2013. At the time of the explosion, it was drilling an exploratory well at a water depth of approximately 5,000 feet (1,500 m) in the Macondo Prospect, located in the Mississippi Canyon Block 252 of the Gulf of Mexico in the United States exclusive economic zone

The spill stemmed from a sea-floor oil gusher that resulted from the April 20, 2010 explosion of Deepwater Horizon, which drilled on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect.  11 men working on the platform died and 17 others were injured.

On July 15, 2010 the leak was stopped by capping the gushing wellhead,after it had released about 4,900,000 barrels (779,000 m3) of crude oil. It was estimated that 53,000 barrels per day (8,400 m³/d) were escaping from the well just before it was capped.

Bob Dudley, BP’s CEO today said:

“Today marks the first anniversary of the tragic accident on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven men died in the accident and our thoughts are with their families, friends and colleagues particularly today. We also remember those who were injured and affected in other ways by the accident and the subsequent oil spill. We are committed to meet our obligations to those affected by this tragedy and we will continue our work to strengthen safety and risk management across BP. But most of all today, we remember 11 fellow workers and we deeply regret the loss of their lives.”

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April 20,2011; Image: BP