Deepwater
Horizon Oil
Spill
BP 2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil
Spill
Sean Edward Paquette
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Course: MANE-6960H01
Professor: Ernesto Gutierrez-Miravete, Ph.D.
Fall 2013
Introduction

Quantitative statistics, models and data
collected:
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
 Gulf of Mexico
 Year 2010


Examines Gulf of Mexico water contamination
levels due to Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Summarizes negative environmental impacts
Offshore Drilling
 Offshore
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
drilling is composed of 5 stages
Exploration surveying
Exploration drilling
Development
Production
Decommission process
Deepwater Horizon Oil
Platform

Floating production system (semi-submersible drilling unit)

Positioned in the Mississippi Canyon Block 252; 41 miles off the
Louisiana coast

Platform was 396 ft. long & 256 ft. wide

Could operate in waters up to 8,000 ft. deep

Maximum drill depth of 30,000 ft.

Owned by Transocean & leased to BP

Built in 2001 by Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea

$560 million
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

April 20, 2010 two days before temporarily
capping the oil well and passing the petroleum
pumping to the production platform, Deepwater
Horizon exploded

During the explosion 11 employees died

More than 170 million gallons of toxic petroleum
leaked into the Gulf of Mexico

Considered the worst oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

During the disconnect process, the primary or secondary
cementing failed pushing natural gas into the well pipe

As the natural gas rocketed towards the surface

Weakening the mud and seawater to point of failure

Shear rams released, only a portion of the drill pipe
sheared closed (near the wellhead connector)

July 15, 2010 the Macondo well was successfully cemented
and sealed
Water Contamination Levels in
the Gulf of Mexico

Approximately 1,000 miles of shoreline polluted

Over 8,000 birds, turtles and mammals died within the
first six months

Used hydrocarbon data to assess levels of pollution in
the surround sediment, water and fauna/flora

Hydrocarbons: Organic compounds consisting
entirely of hydrogen and carbon

TPHs: Total petroleum hydrocarbons
References
 References
are identified in report for all
figures, charts and diagrams