British Petroleum Oil Spillage, an International crisis

British Petroleum Oil Spillage, an international crisis

Introduction

British Petroleum is a British multinational gas and oil company, it's headquarter is located in London, United Kingdom, it is the third largest energy company and by 2011 it was the fourth largest company of the world. It is one of the six super major in oil and gas manufacture and distribution. BP has its operations in around 80 countries and produces approximately 3.4 million barrels of oil per day and has 21,800 stations worldwide. BP America is BP largest division. BP was found in 1909 it was previously called the Anglo Persian Oil company and in 1954 it changed in the British Petroleum. In 1959 the company extended from the Middle East to Alaska. The current CEO of BP is Bob Dudley.

The major threat any oil producing company faces is an oil spillage, small oil spillages are inevitable but in certain occasions the situation goes out of hand which can result in a major oil spillage which is an extreme hazard to the world. British Petroleum experienced what is called the worst oil spillage in history on the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The incident is referred to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (NY Times, 2010).

Analysis of the Deepwater Oil Spill

The deepwater Horizon oil spill is to this date the biggest BP oil disaster to occur. The disaster took place on the Gulf of Mexico which flowed continuously for three months from the 20th of April, 2010 till the 15th of July 2010.The oil spill was considered the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. The reason behind the oil spill was an explosion of Deep water Horizon which drilled into the BP operated Macondo Prospect. 11 people were killed subsequently who were working on the platform and 17 others were injured. on the 15th of July 2010 the well was sealed after approximately 4.9 million barrels of oil had been spilled. On September 19th the remedial efforts were completed. In August 2011 oil sheen was reported to resurface not far from the BP Macondo well, after scientific research it was proven that the sheen matched the Macondo oil reserve. As a result of the oil spill critical damage was inflicted to the marine and wildlife and to the gulf fishing and tourism industry. In order to prevent the oil spillage from harming the surrounding beaches, anchored barriers and sand filled barricades were placed all around the spill.

The dolphin and whale death rate has been on the rise ever since the spill. According to the report by the US government the biggest cause of the oil spill was a defected cement job which was the main cause of the BP oil spill. The Deepwater Horizon was a semi submersible mobile offshore drilling unit, it was owned by Transocean. The explosion occurred at 9:45 PM; Methane gas of high pressure was released from the well, into the drilling rise and eventually released from ...