Gulf Oil Spill Case

Running head: GULF OIL SPILL CASE
Gulf Oil Spill Case
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1GULF OIL SPILL CASE
Introduction
The Gulf oil spill which is famously known as the deep water horizon oil spill or the
BP oil spill is one of the biggest industrial massacres in the US history. It injured 17 and
killed 11 workers, and destroyed the surrounding marine life along with capsizing the deep
water horizon oil rig ("Deepwater Horizon – BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill | US EPA", 2018).
The explosion of the oil rig released around 130-206 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf
of Mexico gulf coast and Louisiana. 20% of the filled oil settled down into the ocean bed,
which destroyed the marine life of the ocean badly along with spreading water and air
pollution largely (Heflin & Wallace, 2017). In this paper the author strives to outline an
overview of the situation that has taken place back in the year 2010. The paper strives to
discuss the ethical and moral issues that are involved in this case. In this paper the author
draws a contrast by reviewing the decisions, which were taken by the stakeholders at the time
of the incident along with the suitable solution which could have been adopted instead.
The explosion
The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is known as the biggest Marine oil spill in the petroleum
industry’s history as well as in the history of the US. It leaked about 132-206 million gallons
of crude oil on the April 20, 2010. The oil rig was said to be shut and sealed after 5 months
from the accident; however, it was reported in 2012 that the oil rig was leaking oil again. The
leaking of the oil for such a long duration of time leads to severe adverse effect on the flora
and fauna of the marine ecosystem, affecting the trade and commerce and tourism industry of
the neighbouring countries. The government recruited oil cleaning staff who worked
tirelessly for days after days over years for a stretch of the 55 miles of Louisiana coastline. It
was presumed that the methane gas that has high pressure expanded and breaded across the
rig that affected the ignition and explosion, subsequently engulfing the entire oil rig. 11

2GULF OIL SPILL CASE
workers were declared dead after the US coast guard failed to find out their corpses after a
search operation carried out for 3 days. 17 workers were rushed to the emergency room for
severe injury and burnt issues (Bishop, 2017). The leak continued for around 87 days nonstop
which resulted to a spell of 1000 to 5000 barrels of crude oil everyday as estimated by the
company, which amounted to 132-206 million gallons of oil in total. On the other hand, the
Flow Rate Technical Group estimated and confirmed that around 62,000 barrels of oil leaked
everyday initially which resulted to 4.9 million barrels in total (Grattan, 2017). It was
reported that 68000 square miles of the ocean around the area of Gulf coast, Gulf of Mexico
and Louisiana were damaged. The areas and its adjoining ocean bed still have the evidence of
tar ball traces. Several issues were also reported from the Alabama and Florida beaches in
2013 (Ramseur & Hagerty, 2013). BP and Transocean, the companies and the US
government took several measures to diminish the adverse effect of the destruction, like using
of containment booms and dispersant, offshore filtration and combustion, disseminating oil
eating microbes on the ocean bed, restrictive access of the citizens and tourists along the
affected coast line, thorough cleaning procedure along the affected shores.
Ethical issues
Numerous issues both in terms of technical and ethical had cropped up that led to the
largest marine mishap of the history of petroleum industry. It was held that the entire system
of the oil rig lacked both external and internal regulations. BP, the company’s decision and
policy to lower down the cost of mining for an exorbitant profit was risky and extremely
negligent. The company did not pay attention to the poor cemented walls of the oil well that
is just another additional factor behind the explosion. In addition to this, the company was
held liable for not updating and installing and updated internal infrastructure, which also
added to the reason behind the explosion as the gas pipelines cell inside the oil well that
subsequently blew up the area. Such negligence of the company is seen as a serious ethical