At 9:56 P.M. on April 20, 2010, a massive explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. It resulted in 11 deaths and the worst maritime oil spill in history. What happened and why?
The well was operated by the oil company B.P. The crew were in the final stage of drilling an exploratory well. The well was very deep at over a mile from the ocean floor to the platform. A few minutes before the explosion, seawater shot up through the pipe, followed by a combination of drilling mud, water, and methane gas. A spark ignited the gas and fire spread rapidly through the platform. The eleven dead were most likely killed by the conflagration. Of the remaining 115, 17 were injured, some seriously. The platform was set adrift which caused the pipe to break. It is estimated that 134 million gallons of oil were spilled into the Gulf. In comparison, the Exxon Valdez oil spill was 11 million gallons. 1,300 miles of shore land was impacted. Louisiana was the state most effected. Huge amounts of marine life were killed. Many people lost their livelihood, some permanently. The well was not capped until July 15, 87 days later.
The main cause of the disaster was human error. It was a combination of rushing to shut down the well (the crew was paid bonuses for meeting deadlines), cutting safety corners (profit trumped safety), and ignoring test results (the final test results were misinterpreted as successful). Ironically, two BP executives were on board to present a safety award. When the well first blew, there were nine critical minutes to seal the well and warn the crew. Neither happened. This was due to hesitation to shut down the well and thus lose a lot of money. Poor communications and missed warning signs cost some of the lives. None of the defenses worked or they were deployed too late. Too much depended on human reactions. For example, the general master alarm was sounded much too late. Most of the people on board were relaxing or sleeping in their rooms when the explosion occurred. The emergency disconnect system did not work when it finally was deployed. The blowout preventer failed, possibly from poor maintenance. BP rightfully accepted responsibility and paid $8.8 billion, but the leaders of the crew were mainly to blame for what happened.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/chapter-one_-bp-blowout.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_explosion
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/us/26spill.html
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