On 20 April 2010, the semi-submersible exploratory offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded after a blowout; it sank two days later, killing 11 people. This blowout in the Macondo Prospect field in the Gulf of Mexico resulted in a partially capped oil well one mile below the surface of the water. Experts estimate the gusher to be flowing at 35,000 to 60,000 barrels per day (5,600 to 9,500 m3/d) of oil.

2. BP OIL SPIL
 The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the
BP oil spill, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the BP oil
disaster or the Macondo blowout)[ is an oil spill in gulf
of mexico.
 It is the largest marine oil spill in the history of the
petroleum industry.
 The spill stemmed from a sea-floor oil gusher that resulted
from the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig
explosion.
 The explosion killed 11 platform workers and injured
17 others.On July 15, the leak was stopped by capping the
gushing wellhead after releasing about 4.9 million barrels
(780×103 m3) of crude oil.

3. DEEPWATER HORIZON DRILLING
RIG
 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).
 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 US.

4. DEEPWATER HORIZON EXPLOSION
During March and early
April, several platform workers and
supervisors expressed concerns
with well control.
 At approximately 9:45 pm on
April 20, 2010, methane gas from
the well, under high pressure, shot
all the way up and out of the drill
column, expanded onto the
platform, and exploded.
 Eleven workers were never found
despite a three-day Coast Guard
search operation, and are presumed
to have died in the explosion.
Efforts by ships failed &deepwater
horizon sank on April 22,2010.

8. VOLUME AND EXTENT OF OIL SPILL
An oil leak was discovered on
the afternoon of April 22 when a
large oil slick began to spread at
the former rig site.
 According to the Flow Rate
Technical Group the leak
amounted to about 4.9 million
barrels (205.8 million gallons)
of oil exceeding the 1989 Exxon
Valdez oil spill as the largest
ever to originate in U.S.-
controlled waters and the 1979
Ixtoc I oil spill as the largest spill
in the Gulf of Mexico.

20. SPILL AREA AND THICKNESS
The oil's spread was initially increased
by strong southerly winds caused by an
impending cold front.
By April 25, the oil spill covered
580 square miles (1,500 km2) and was
only 31 miles (50 km) from the
ecologically sensitive Chandeleur
Islands.
An April 30 the spill quickly
approached the Delta National Wildlife
Refuge and Breton National Wildlife
Refuge.
On May 19 both the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration and
other scientists monitoring the spill
with the European Space Agency
Envisat radar satellite stated that oil had
reached the Loop Current.

22. OIL SIGHTINGS & UNDERWATER
PLUME
Oil began washing up on the beaches of
Gulf Islands National Seashore on June 1.
By June 4, the oil spill had landed on
125 miles (201 km) of Louisiana's coast, had
washed up along Mississipi and Alabama
barrier islands.
 On June 9, oil sludge began entering the
Intracoastal Waterway through Perdido Pass.
On June 23, oil appeared on Pensacola
Beach . On June 27, tar balls reached Gulf
Park . the first appearance of oil in
Mississippi.
 Early in July, tar balls reached Grand Isle
but 800 volunteers were cleaning them up.
On August 19, scientists reported
conclusive evidence of a deep plume 22 miles
(35 km) long.

23. Well integrity was not
established
Hydrocarbons entered the well
undetected and the well lost
control.
Hydrocarbons ignited on
Deepwater Horizon
Blowout preventer did not seal
the well.

25. The British Petroleum followed
four strategies to plug the leak
BLOW OUT PREVENTER
CONTAINMENT DOME
TOP KILL PROCEDURE
STATIC KILL PROCEDURE

26.  The exact cause was gas-kick and
blowout resulting in an uncontrolled
upward surge of oil and gas flow to the
surface.
 The blowout preventer (BOP) is
supposed to stop this happening.
 The BOP, the size of a five-storey
building, consists of a series of high-
pressure valves, designed to prevent
such a surge or kick from damaging the
drilling operation.
In this particular BOP, built by US
firm to specifications by
Transocean, there are five ram-type &
annular preventer valves.

27. WHY DID BOP FAIL ?
 The gas kick was so catastrophic it
pushed fragments of cement debris
through the BOP so fast that it was
damaged and could not activate.
The other possibility is that the BOP
was faulty in the first place.
 The leak had been spotted in one of
the BOP's control pods.
The last line of defence in a BOP is
usually the blind shear ram. This
device, activated hydraulically, uses
piston-driven blades to cut the pipe, thus
stopping the flow & it did not work.
 possibility is that the hydraulic
mechanism of the blind shear ram failed.

28. CONTAINMENT DOME
The second technique, placing
a 125-tonne (280,000 lb)
containment dome (which had
worked on leaks in shallow
water) over the largest leak site.
Piping the oil to a storage vessel
on the surface.
The above procedure failed
when gas leaking from the pipe
combined with cold water
formed methane hydrate crystals
that blocked the opening at the
top of the dome

30. TOP KILL PROCEDURE
In the procedure, special drilling
fluid known as mud is pumped into
the well, forcing the oil back down.
The aim was to pump mud from a
ship into the blowout preventer.
Drilling the mud pumped from
the surface.
Goes into blow out preventer
If the pressure and density
sufficient,oil and gas flow stops.
Well then filled with cement.
The above procedure failed as the
mud in blowout preventer was not
able to withstand the pressure of
oil.

31. STATIC KILL PROCEDURE
This procedure was last attempt to plug the leak.
To lower a cap over the blowout preventer to capture the leaking
oil and funnel it to a surface vessel.
The riser pipe is cut and Lower Marine Package(LMRP) is lowered
on to the surface of Blowout preventer.
T he LMRP was removed and replaced with a tightly fitting stack
With the sealing cap fitted the valves or rams was turned off
and flow of oil was stopped,test conducted to ascertain the leak was
successful.
Transocean Driller II relief well on May 2 and GSF Development
Driller II started drilling a second relief on May 16.
Next procedure drilling mud through the blowout preventer into
the well & reservoir known as ‘’Static kill’’.
Process continued with pumping cement into the well through
BOP by the relief wall positioned on sea bed.
The oil gusher was sealed and BP declared as success.

33. PROTECTING THE COASTLINE
AND MARINE ENVIRONMENTS
The three fundamental strategies for
addressing spilled oil were ;
To contain it on the surface, away from the
most sensitive areas.
 o dilute and disperse it in less sensitive
areas.
to remove it from the water.

34. STRATEGIES TO REMOVE THE OIL
Containment boom
Skimming
Dispersal
In-situ burning
Branch structure
Ella G

36. Boom is a floating barrier made up of
tubular links to contain, deflect or hold
back oil floating on water .
The response included deploying
many miles of containment
boom, whose purpose is to either corral
the oil, or to block it from a
marsh, mangrove, shrimp/crab/oyster
ranch or other sensitive area.
Booms extend 18–48 inches (0.46–1.2
m) above and below the water surface.
More than 100,000 feet (30 km) of
containment booms were initially
deployed to protect the coast and the
Mississippi River Delta.
 By the next day, that nearly doubled
to 180,000 feet (55 km).

37. Skimming is one of many processes being
used by BP to limit the impact of the oil
leaking in the Gulf of Mexico.
 The skimmer uses a floating boom
system to sweep oil across the water
surface, concentrating the oil to make the
skimming process more effective and
efficient.
 Skimmers use a variety of methods to
mechanically separate oil from water. These
include the use of belts, rotating discs and
ropes.
 The recovered oil is stored and later will
be processed into fuel.
 Skimmers are highly effective in calm
waters, but less efficient in windy
conditions or choppy waters.

38. Chemical dispersants
accelerate the dispersal
process, although they may
have significant side-effects.
Corexit EC9500A and Corexit
EC9527A have been the
principle dispersants
employed.
The dispersants are usually
sprayed from airplanes.
Dispersants helps in
reducing the oil slick on the
top surface of water.

39. In this method, oil that has
been corralled in a u-shaped
fireproof boom is safely and
carefully set on fire.
This technique is applied only
when the oil film thickness is
adequate to sustain combustion
and when the weather and water
conditions are good.
 In-situ burning can be used
only with appropriate agency
agreement on a case-by-case
basis when its use is safe, and
feasible for the spill’s
location, time, and prevailing

40. As part of continued enhancement
of the response, plans are
progressing to further leverage the
success of the branch structure in
place in Louisiana, which allows the
response to be managed more
effectively from the front lines.
Each branch has a clear purpose—
to defend the shoreline, safely and
quickly carry out any clean-up
activities.
 To provide the focal point for
integration with the local
community—in effect, developing
and executing an integrated
response plan.

41. The Ella G is a supply vessel that
has been reconfigured with the
latest skimmer and centrifuge
technology into a flexible oil spill
response platform.
Combining innovation with
cutting-edge technology, it is the
first step toward a new generation of
oil spill response.
 The Ella G's four centrifuge
devices provide the potential to
clean up to 800,000 gallons of oily
water a day and her deck capacity is
273,000 gallons.
 The Ella G is 280 feet in length
with a beam of 64 feet and can
operate in deep water and rough
seas

42. ECOLOGY
The spill threatens environmental
disaster due to factors such as petroleum
toxicity, oxygen depletion .
Eight U.S. national parks are threatened.
 More than 400 species that live in the
Gulf islands and marshlands were
affected, including the endangered
Kemp's Ridley turtle, the Green Turtle, the
Loggerhead Turtle, the Hawksbill
Turtle, and the Leatherback Turtle.
 In the national refuges most at
risk, about 34,000 birds have been
counted, including gulls, pelicans, roseate
spoonbills, egrets, terns, and blue herons.
A comprehensive 2009 inventory of
offshore Gulf species counted 15,700.

44. On May 2 the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration closed
commercial and recreational fishing in
affected federal waters between the
mouth of the Mississippi River and
Pensacola Bay.
 The closure initially incorporated
6,814 square miles (17,650 km2).[By June 21
NOAA had increased the area under
closure by (225,290 km2), or
approximately 36% of Federal waters in
the Gulf of Mexico, and extending along
the coast from Atchafalaya Bay, Louisiana
to Florida.
 On May 24 the federal government
declared a fisheries disaster for the states
of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Initial cost estimates loss to the fishing
industry were $2.5 billion

46.  On May 25 BP gave Florida $25 million to promote
its beaches, which the oil had not reached, and the
company planned $15 million each for
Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.
The Bay Area Tourist hotels have cut rates and
offered deals such as free golf.
Also, cancellation policies have changed, and
refunds have been promised to those where oil
arrives.
 Revenues remain below 2009 levels due to the
special deals.
 By June many people were cancelling vacations
while they could do so, fearing the arrival of oil on
the beaches.
 U.S. Travel Association estimated that the
economic impact of the oil spill on tourism across
the Gulf Coast over a three-year period could exceed
approximately $23 billion, in a region that supports
over 400,000 travel industry jobs generating $34
billion in revenue annually

47. On June 15, Executive Director for
Louisiana Environmental Action Network
(LEAN) said on MSNBC's that people
along the Gulf Coast were getting very
sick, with symptoms of
dizziness, vomiting, nausea, headaches, a
nd chest pains, not only from the first
responders to the crisis, but residents
living along the coast as well.
 By June 21, 143 oil spill exposure-related
cases had been reported to the Louisiana
Department of Health and Hospitals
(DHH).
 since the crisis began; 108 of those cases
involved workers in the oil spill clean-up
efforts, while thirty-five were reported by
the general public

48. US declared BP OIL SPIL as A Spill of
National Significance (SONS) is defined
as, "a spill that, due to its
severity, size, location, actual or potential
impact on the public health and welfare or
the environment, or the necessary
response effort, is so complex that it
requires extraordinary coordination of
federal, state, local, and responsible party
resources to contain and clean up the
discharge" and allows greater federal
involvement.
Established a website to track and provide
the public with information on the Gulf spill.
Implemented procedures to track response
resources requested and deployed to the Gulf.

49. Implemented procedures to track
response resources requested and
deployed to the Gulf.
Applied methodology to analyze and
mitigate the impacts on local readiness
and back fill equipment and personnel.
Participated in the Emergency
Management and Assistance Compact
request for resources from state to state.
 US Congress committee has agreed
measures that would ban BP from new
offshore drilling for seven years.
BP has agreed to pay the
compensation amounting to
$20Billion.

50. MOBILIZATION AND DEPLOYMENT
26,516 people
2,626 vessels
835 skimmers
65 aircrafts
1,781,253 feet of cumulative boom deployed
Containment
827,025 barrels of oily liquid skimmed
265,450 barrels in controlled surface burns
Claims and Payments
Over $8 billion spent to date
154,000 payments made
$399 million paid to claimants
$20 billion claims escrow fund
$100 million unemployed rig workers' fund
$500 million establishing Gulf Coast Research
Initiative

51. BP have taken a pre-tax
charge of $32.2 billion and have
plans to sell up to $30 billion of
assets, creating a smaller, but
higher quality, upstream
business.
 BP is now focused on
efficiency, quality and
integration in the
downstream, while
maintaining a disciplined
approach to alternative energy.