Deepwater Horizon oil spill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Deepwater Horizon oil spill

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"Gulf of Mexico oil spill" redirects here. For the 1979 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, see Ixtoc I oil spill.

This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

Deepwater Horizon oil spill
The oil slick as seen from space by NASA's Terra satellite on May 17, 2010
Location	Gulf of Mexico near Mississippi River Delta
Coordinates	28°44′12″N 88°23′14″W / 28.73667°N 88.38716°W / 28.73667; -88.38716Coordinates: 28°44′12″N 88°23′14″W / 28.73667°N 88.38716°W / 28.73667; -88.38716
Date	April 20, 2010 - present (35 days)
Cause
Cause	Wellhead blowout
Casualties	17 injured 11 missing, presumed dead
Operator	Transocean under lease for BP [1]
Spill characteristics
Volume	up to 100,000 barrels (4,200,000 USgal) per day
Area	2,500 to 9,100 sq mi (6,500 to 24,000 km2) [2]

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the BP Oil Spill, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill or the Macondo blowout)^[3][4][5][6] is a massive ongoing oil spill stemming from a sea floor oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico that started with an oil well blowout on April 20, 2010. The blowout caused a catastrophic explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling platform that was situated about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of the Louisiana coast. Eleven platform workers are missing and presumed dead; the explosion also injured 17 others. The gusher originates from a deepwater oil well 5,000 feet (1,500 m) below the ocean surface. Estimates of the amount of oil being discharged range from BP's current estimate of over 5,000 barrels (210,000 US gallons; 790,000 litres) to as much as 100,000 barrels (4,200,000 US gallons; 16,000,000 litres) of crude oil pDeepwater Horizon oil spill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia