The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was a major industrial disaster that occurred on April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. It was considered the largest marine oil spill in U.S. history. The spill began after an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and resulted in approximately 134 million gallons of oil being released into the Gulf over 87 days. The spill had devastating environmental impacts, contaminating over 1,600 km of shoreline and closing over 20 million hectares of fishing waters. Advanced technologies and methods were used to contain the spill and clean up the oil, but it caused major damage to ecosystems and coastal communities in the Gulf. Proper planning, training, and risk mitigation are essential to preventing and responding to future

1. DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL
by
SUMAKANTH POLAMURI
Guided by
Asst. Professor M. Venkatesh

2. Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, was an industrial disaster that
happened on 20 April 2010, in the ‘Gulf of Mexico’. This oil spill
also referred as “BP Oil Spill”. As it happened on BP (British
Petroleum) Company. The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
considered to be the largest environmental disasters in American
history and the second largest oil spill in the history of the
petroleum industry. The Deepwater Horizon was 12 years old
when the disaster took place, and it was semi-submersible,
mobile and floating drilling rig that can operate under 3000
meters deep in the ocean. [1, 2, 3]

3. Ixtoc 1
June 1979 – March 1980
140 Million Gallons
Deepwater Horizon
April 10, 2010
134 Million Gallons
Atlantic Empress
July 18, 1979
90 Million Gallons
Amoco Cadiz
(France)
March 16, 1978
69 Million Gallons
Fergana Valley
(Uzbekistan)
March 02, 1992
88 Gallons Million
Nowruz Oil Field
(Gulf of Persia)
February 10, 1983
63000 Gallons
Persian War
August 2, 1991
Castillo de Bellver
(Cape Town)
August 06, 1983
110000 Tonnes
Major Oil Spills around the world [4]

4. Ennore port,
Chennai
28th January, 2017
60 tonnes
Mumbai-urban
pipeline spill
January 21, 2011
55 tonnes
Mumbai oil spill
August 7 – 9 2010
800 tonnes
Oil spills in India [5, 6]

5. The Explosion
On 20 April 2010, at 1945 pm High pressure of Methane gas
from the well at 3000 meters deep in the ocean has released and the oil
slick began to spread at the former rig site. And it estimated that 800
million liters of oil has released for 87 days. Vast areas of the Gulf of
Mexico were contaminated with oil, including deep-ocean communities
and over 1,600 kilometres of shoreline. Multiple species of pelagic, tidal,
and estuarine organisms; sea turtles; marine mammals; and birds were
affected, and over 20 million hectares of the Gulf of Mexico were closed
to fishing. [7, 8]

6. • Oil Booms
Booms acts like a fence to prevent the oil
from further spreading or floating away.[9, 10]
• Skimmers
Skimmers are machines specially
designed to suck up the oil from the
water surface like a vacuum cleaner. They
are used to physically separate the oil
from the water to be collected and
processed for re-use. [9, 11]
• Sorbents
Sorbents are materials that soak up liquids by either
absorption pulling in through pores or forming a
layer on the surface. Both these properties make the
process of clean-up much easier. Materials
commonly used as oil sorbents are hay, peat moss,
straw or vermiculite. [9, 12]
CLEANING METHODS

7. • Hot Water & High Pressure Washing
Dispersal agents, such as Coexist 9500, are
chemicals that are sprayed upon the spill
with the help of aircraft and boats, which
aid to naturally breakdown of oil
components. They allow the oil to
chemically bond with water by increasing
the surface area of each molecule. [9, 13]
• Dispersants
This procedure is mainly used in situations where
the oil is inaccessible to mechanical removal
methods such as using booms and skimmers. It is
used to dislodge the trapped and weathered oil
from locations that are generally inaccessible to
machinery. Water heaters are used to heat water to
around 170°C, then sprayed by hand with high-
pressure wands or nozzles. The oil is thus flushed to
the water surface, which can be collected with
skimmers or sorbents. [9 14]
Bioremediation refers to the use of specific
microorganisms to remove any toxic or
harmful substances. Sometimes, reagents and
fertilizers may be added to the area. These
phosphorus-based and nitrogen-based
fertilizers provide adequate nutrients for the
microbes to grow and multiply quickly. [9, 15]
• Bioremediation

8. Predication
During the threat of an oil spill, NOAA predicts where the oil might spread. To predict where oil might go, we model how
weather, wind, tides and currents effects of oil movement. But natural variability in wind, weather and water current can change
the trajectory of a spill in way difficult to predict. [16]
Precautions
Trajectory maps are produced using a NOAA data by GNOME (General NOAA Operational Modelling Environmental), which
helps to predict the movement of oil. GNOME can forecast the effects that currents, winds, and other physical processes have
on the movement of oil in the ocean. [17]

9. MITIGATIONS TECHNIQUES
• Governments and the oil industry must have preparedness plans in place and understand what to do when an oil spill
happens. Equally important is conducting regular spill response training exercises. The quicker and better prepared the
reaction the less the environmental impact. Oil spill response can be tiered so that small spills are handled at a local level,
larger spills are handled on a national level and major spills call on an international response.[18]
• Calculating and proper measurements are needed while drilling in ocean.
• Experienced persons should handle the equipment for proper usage.

10. R
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e 1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill
2. www.epa.gov/enforcement/deepwater-horizon-bp-gulf-mexico-oil-
spill#:~:text=On%20April%2020%2C%202010%2C%20the,of%20marine%20oil%20drilling%20operations.
3. https://www.gettyimages.in/detail/news-photo/the-development-driller-iii-which-is-drilling-the-relief-news-photo/99035935?adppopup=true
4. https://www.britannica.com/list/9-of-the-biggest-oil-spills-in-history
5. https://www.gettyimages.in/detail/news-photo/the-development-driller-iii-which-is-drilling-the-relief-news-photo/99035935?adppopup=true
6. https://blog.ipleaders.in/oil-spill-laws-india
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_spill
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_explosion#/media/File:Deepwater_Horizon_offshore_drilling_unit_on_fire_2010.jpg
9. https://www.marineinsight.com/environment/10-methods-for-oil-spill-cleanup-at-sea/
10. https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/images/13/boom-around-hatchery-exxon-356.jpg
11. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bq2HbB5rntk/maxresdefault.jpg
12. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSLCOQAvcrUQOTyr__8eZSKG1YV1-pGrr5zNw&usqp=CAU
13. https://www.aylesfernie.co.uk/images/img1.png
14. https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/images/13/cleanup-workers-high-pressure-hoses-exxon-valdez-oil-spill-trustee-council_356.jpg
15. https://encyclopedia.mdpi.cn/Fh71BLgk44U-u2OQ34df2rYe0Xb4
16. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/oil-spill
trajectory.html#:~:text=During%20the%20threat%20of%20an%20oil%20spill%2C%20NOAA%20predicts%20where,in%20ways%20difficult%20to%20predict
17. ww.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/ocean-coasts/oil-spills
18. https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/how-manage-damage-oil-spills

11. THANK YOU!
@SUMAKANTHPOLAMURI