The Deep Horizon oil spill
The Deep-water horizon oil spill is one of the largest oil spills in history. The spill occurred due to several factors including system failure and human error. The spill not only affected the wildlife and economy of the gulf but the entire United States as goods and service that were once available were no longer available. As a result of the oil spill Bp was forced to pay billions of dollars to restore the damages that they have caused. In addition, the oil and gas industry have changes there practices and are working with the government under new laws and regulation to prevent a future oil spill.
On April 20, 2010, an event that became known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred. It is sometime referred to as the BP oil spill, as BP was the company operating on the Deep Water horizon at the time of the spill. This oil spill is considered one of the largest oil spills in history as approximately 4.9 million barrels of oil made its way into the open ocean, reaching as far away as Florida.
The oil spills occur due to a combination of system failure and human error. The primary cause of the spill was the failure in the cement work, the blowout preventer and the crew’s misinterpretation of crucial safety test. Before the oil crew worked on the rig they had to secure it, they did so by filling the borehole with cement. However, the cement failed to secure the well, allowing for oil and gas to flow through the pipe where it eventually reaching the surface. When the crew noticed the spill they attempted to activate the blowout preventer which would have stopped the flow of oil. But the blowout preventer did not function as it was suppose to, this is due to a bent pipe preventing the blind shear ...
... middle of paper ...
...nt Investigation Report. S.l.: DIANE, 2010. Print.
Haugen, David M. The BP Oil Spill. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven, 2012. Print.
Repanich, Jeremy. "5 Lingering Questions from the BP Oil Spill." Popular Mechanics. N.p., 20 Apr. 2011. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
Tiffany, Jackie. "Health Effects from British Petroleum Oil Spill." BP Oilspill. N.p., 16 Sept. 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
Beinecke, Frances. "RealClearEnergy | 3 Years Later: The Lessons of BP Gulf Oil Spill."RealClearEnergy | 3 Years Later: The Lessons of BP Gulf Oil Spill. The Energy Collective, 19 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Feb.2014
Mullins, Justin. "The Eight Failures That Caused the Gulf Oil Spill.". N.p., 09 Sept. 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
"The Oil Drum | What Caused the Deepwater Horizon Disaster?" The Oil Drum | What Caused the Deepwater Horizon Disaster? N.p., 21 May 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
Shabecoff, Philip. “U.S. Asks Exxon for $20 Million to Access Spill Damage in Alaska.”New York Times [New York] 18 January 1990: B4.
April 20, 2010, a tragic disaster struck the Gulf Coast. British Petroleum deepwater Horizon oil rig cracked from three places and raw oil leaking into the sea. .it was considered that over 60,000 barrels of oil a day are mixing with Gulf water and Oil spread over 70 miles to 130 miles into the sea and can be seen from space.
In the Macondo blowout case, (Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill), leaders within Transocean and British Petroleum (BP) processed a “by any means necessary” mentality as well. The company cultures promoted doing whatever was possible to enhance profits. This oil leak and explosion, resulted in the loss of 11 lives, destroyed beaches and wetlands, and killed multiple wildlife species. The most telling piece of information throughout this case is that the oil spill and explosion could ...
Smith Jr., Lawrence C., L. Murphy Smith, and Paul A. Ashcroft. "Analysis Of Environmental And Economic Damages From British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill." Albany Law Review 74.1 (2011): 563-585.Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
...the action of drilling is going on because so that if the same incident ever happen again, their will be more men to take the first aid action in trying to stop the leak. Also maybe the company should change the type of pipe they are using to engage in transferring the drilled oil because it might be the material used to make the pipe that is weaken and ended up causing the oil company billions of dollars.
British Petroleum (“BP”) is the company that is being blamed for the incident. Employing 80,000 people, BP is an international oil company that puts different technology to use for finding oil and gas under the Earth’s surface. One of the oilrigs, Deepwater Horizon has drilled 35,000 ft. making it to be the deepest drilling of oil and gas (Walsh). Deepwater Horizon was drilling in the Gulf of Mexico about 52 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip. After the explosion, helicopters searched for 11 crewmembers that reported missing. 17 people were injured (BP Internal Investigation Team). A day later, the rig was found upside down (BP Oil Spill Timeline). The cost to clean up the damage is approximately $760 million (Walsh).
US Enviromental Protection Agency. (2010, December 13). Retrieved January 20, 2011, from US EPA Human Health: http://cfpub.epa.gov/eroe/index.cfm?fuseaction=list.listByChapter&ch=49
“On March 23, 2005, at 1:20 pm, the BP Texas City Refinery suffered one of the worst industrial disasters in recent U.S. history. Explosions and fires killed 15 people and injured another 180, alarmed the community, and resulted in financial losses exceeding $1.5 billion.” (U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, 2007) There are many small and big decisions and oversights that led to the incident. Underneath all the specific actions or inaction is a blatant disregard for addressing safety violations and procedures that had been pointed out to BP even years before this event. The use of outdated equipment and budget cuts also contributed to the circumstances that allowed this accident to happen.
Most people believe that one man-made natural disaster would teach us to be better, but we have learned that history repeats itself. The Exxon Valdez oil spill (in 1989) and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, or BP oil spill, (in 2010) were both devastating oil spills that shocked the nation. The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred due to a tanker grounding. The BP oil spill was caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform. These two oil spills were both disasters and had greater effects in certain categories. In this essay, I will be comparing the cause of both oil spills, the damage/effect of both oil spills, and the cleanup of each oil spill.
Swift, W.H, . C.J. Touhill, W.L. Templeton, and D.P. Roseman. 1969. Oil spillage prevention, control, and restoration—state of the art and research needs. Washington, D.C.: The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.
In the three months that it took to finally put a stop to the leak, 4.9 million barrels of oil were released into the ocean. The spill caused considerable damage to marine and wildlife habitats and the Gulf’s fishing and tourism industries. The White House energy advisor, Carol Browner, goes as far as to say that the Deepwater oil spill is the “worst environmental disaster the US has faced”. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has had an extremely negative effect on the surrounding wildlife and ecosystem. Oil spreads across the gulf, contaminating any living organism that comes into direct or indirect contact with it.
Winston A, 2010, Five Lessons from the BP Oil Spill, Harvard Business Review, accessed 1 April 2014,
On a Monday afternoon, A couple of friends and I drove about forty-five minutes to El Dorado to see a movie. A movie in which we didn’t know anything about. None of us had even seen the trailer. I sent my friend a link to the movies that were showing at the cinema in El Dorado, and she had chosen Deepwater Horizon solely on the fact she liked the actors that had been cast for the movie. A few of these actors included Mark Wahlberg and Kate Hudson. Deepwater Horizon, as I came to find out on the car ride there, is about the most devastating oil spill in United States history. Since this event occurred only roughly six years ago, I recognized it after my friend called it the BP oil spill. Growing up in south Arkansas, I know many people that work on oil rigs so the spill was something that came close to home. The movie portrays the events leading up to the rig explosion and the aftermath concerning the people aboard the rig.
...i. "Environmental Pathways Of Potential Impacts To Human Health From Oil And Gas Development In Northeast British Columbia, Canada." Environmental Reviews 20.2 (2012): 122-134. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill accident of April 20th 2010 that caused a gas release followed by the explosion that took place causing hydro carbons to leak into the Gulf of Mexico posed a lot of strategic implications in the competence, capabilities, internal resources and Corporate Social Responsibility of BP. The implications of the Oil Spill underscores the Icarus paradox, which holds that the very capabilities that give an organization its source of competitive advantage can become constraining with changes to the external context. Teece (2009) emphasised that dynamic capabilities revolve around three generic types namely: Sensing (ability to scan, search and explore the external