Oil rig disaster. Explosions on oil platforms

Explosion of an oil platform " Deepwater horizon» - an accident that occurred on April 20, 2010, 80 kilometers off the coast of Louisiana in Gulf of Mexico, and eventually grew into a man-made disaster, first of a local, then a regional scale, with negative consequences for the ecosystem of the region for many decades to come.

One of the largest man-made disasters in world history in terms of negative impact on ecological situation... It is currently recognized as the largest oil spill into the open ocean in US history, and probably in world history.

Chronology of events

Explosion and fire

On April 20, 2010 at 22:00 local time, an explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon platform, causing a massive fire. Shortly before this, the well was checked for tightness, during which 3 times more drilling fluid was consumed than expected. As a result of the explosion, seven people were injured, four of them are in critical condition, 11 people are missing. At the time of the emergency, 126 people were working on the drilling platform, which is larger than two football fields, and about 2.6 million liters of diesel fuel were stored. The platform's productivity was 8,000 barrels per day.

The Deepwater Horizon oil platform sank on April 22 after a 36-hour fire that followed a massive explosion. After the explosion and flooding, the oil well was damaged and oil from it began to flow into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil spill

The 965-kilometer oil slick approached about 34 kilometers off the Louisiana coast, threatening the beaches and fishing areas that play a critical role in the economy of the coastal states. On April 26, four BP submarine robots tried unsuccessfully to repair the leak. The flotilla of 49 tugs, barges, rescue boats and other vessels was hampered by strong winds and rough seas. US emergency services have begun a process of controlled burning of an oil slick off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico. The first flame on the oil slick was lit on Wednesday, April 28 at about 4.45 pm local time (01.45 Thursday Moscow time).

It is estimated that in the Gulf of Mexico, up to 5,000 barrels (about 700 tons or 795,000 liters) of oil are poured into the water per day. However, experts do not exclude that in the near future this figure may reach 50 thousand barrels per day due to the appearance of additional leaks in the well pipe. An internal BP report released on June 20 states that the volume of the leak can be up to 100 thousand barrels (about 14,000 tons or 16 million liters) daily, excluding the volume of oil that can be collected using the protective dome (which is about 15 thousand barrels in day). For comparison, the volume of the oil spill resulting from the Exxon Valdez tanker accident, which was previously considered the most environmentally damaging disaster that has ever occurred at sea, amounted to about 260 thousand barrels of oil (about 36,000 tons or 40,900,000 liters ).

As of May 17, the oil slick on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico spread to the north (the US coast) insignificantly in comparison with the data from April 28, which is undoubtedly connected with the measures to prevent the spread of oil and its collection by the forces and means of BP, the US emergency services. Particular contributions are made by US citizens who volunteer to assist rescuers. Nevertheless, the spread of the slick to the south (into the open sea) is quite pronounced.

On June 4, the US National Center for Atmospheric Research, based on available climate data, modeled six options for the spread of oil. According to all six options, in early August this year, the water-oil emulsion will reach the northern coast of Cuba, including the beaches of Varadero. In the second half of August, oil may also be on the northern coast of the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula. The model of American scientists shows that the oil slick will in any case leave the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and begin to move into the North Atlantic in the direction of Europe.

On April 30, oil reached the mouth of the Mississippi River, and on May 6, the coast of Louisiana. On June 5, oil reached the coast of Florida, on June 28 - the coast of Mississippi, and on July 6, oil reached the coast of Texas. Thus, all US states with access to the Gulf of Mexico have already suffered from the oil spill.

Well sealing

As of July 16, 2010, the well is sealed and the release of oil into the open ocean has been stopped. However, the reliability of the design is in question and BP representatives confirm that it is a temporary solution. There are also no reports of other 2 oil leaks. Thus, for almost three months, the world's oceans were polluted with oil on an industrial scale.

Environmental impact

In early May 2010, US President Barack Obama called what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico "a potentially unprecedented environmental disaster." Oil spots were found in the water column of the Gulf of Mexico (one spot 16 km long, 90 meters thick at a depth of up to 1300 meters). Oil may be flowing out of the well until August.

Scientists from the US National Center for Atmospheric Research have done computer simulations 6 possible options the spread of the oil slick. All 6 variants ended with the slick leaving the Gulf of Mexico and falling into the so-called Gulf Stream loop. Then the Gulf Stream carried him to the shores of Europe. The differences were only in the time the slick left the bay, the maximum was 130 days. However, scientists point out that these simulations are not accurate predictions and simply serve as a warning of danger, as weather conditions and human remediation can greatly affect the movement of oil pollution. Up to 800,000 barrels of oil have spilled into the water at the time of the simulation.

Dispersants of the Corexit family are widely used to combat oil spills on the water surface.

Elimination of accident consequences

Before that, attempts were made to block three breakthroughs, but only one of them, the smallest, was blocked. The other two cannot be overlapped due to their size.

Flaring of associated gas at the site of the Deepwater Horizon sinking. Q4000 (right) and Discoverer Enterprise. July 8, 2010.

The main operations are carried out by the on-site drilling vessel Discoverer Enterprise and the Q4000 multipurpose semi-submersible platform. On May 7, the installation of a protective dome on the site of the emergency oil well began.

By May 16, it was possible to pump oil out of the well using a pipe one mile long. But this is a temporary measure, the final ways to eliminate the leak have not yet been developed. On May 28, an attempt was made to cement the well; on May 30, reports arrived that it was not possible to do this.

On June 3, remotely controlled robots managed to cut the deformed part of the drill pipe and install a protective dome. However, this did not help completely stop the oil leak.

On June 9, the administration of President Barack Obama issued an ultimatum to British Petroleum, which was given 72 hours to present the final plan to eliminate the consequences of the explosion and stop the oil release.

On the night of July 12, British Petroleum installed a new protective device (plug) weighing 70 tons. The previous plug, which could not cope with oil retention, was removed on July 10, while about 120 thousand barrels of oil could have spilled into the bay.

BP financial costs to eliminate the accident

British Petroleum's expenses on liquidation of the consequences of the accident are growing every day - figures of 450 million, 600 million, 930 million, 990 million and 1.250 billion US dollars were announced. As of June 14, 2010, losses amounted to USD 1.6 billion. According to British Petroleum on July 12, 2010, its expenses for the elimination of the consequences of the accident amounted to 3.5 billion US dollars, including 165 million US dollars of this amount went to cover payments for individual claims.

On December 18, 2011, while being towed in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, the Kolskaya drilling platform, on which there were 67 people, sank. Only 14 were saved. Drilling and oil platforms are quite complex engineering structures who are constantly exposed to all sorts of risks - from natural Disasters before operating errors. The production of gas and oil on the sea shelf is inevitably accompanied by various kinds of accidents. There are many reasons for such disasters. These are storms, hurricanes, emergency explosions, fires, personnel errors, equipment breakdowns. Each individual accident unfolds according to its own scenario. Vesti.Ru recalls the seven most severe accidents.

"Kola"

The towing of the Kolskaya from the western coast of Kamchatka to Sakhalin began on December 11, 2011. There were 67 people on board. Five days later, the caravan in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk was caught in a storm. On the platform, the fairing of the nose support was torn off, the hull skin was damaged, and a roll was formed. On December 18, the captain gave a distress signal. Only 14 people were rescued from the water alive. The bodies of 17 victims were raised from the water. The remaining 36 are considered missing.

"Bohai-II"

On November 25, 1979, while towing in the open sea, the Chinese drilling platform "Bohai-II" was caught in a 10-point storm. As a result of the flooding of the pumping room, the platform overturned and sank. 72 people were killed.

Alexander keilland

In March 1980, the Norwegian Alexander Keilland drilling platform broke and capsized in the North Sea. Of the 212 people who were on the platform, 123 were killed. According to experts, the cause of the disaster was "metal fatigue."

Ocean ranger

In September 1982, off the coast of Canada, the American Ocean Ranger oil rig capsized and sank. The reason is an unprecedented hurricane. The impacts of 15-meter waves broke windows and flooded living quarters. The ultra-reliable reinforced concrete structure, semi-submerged into the ocean, weighing tens of thousands of tons, which was considered absolutely unsinkable, received a dangerous list. There were 84 people on the platform. No one was able to escape, as a result of ten days of searches, the bodies of only 22 dead were found.

Piper alpha

In July 1988, near England, biggest disaster in history - on the oil platform Occidental Petroleum's Piper Alpha as a result of the explosion that followed the gas leak, 167 people out of 226 who were at that moment on the platform died, only 59 survived. Piper Alpha is the world's only completely burned-out platform.

P-56 Petrobras

On March 16, 2001, the P-56, the largest oil platform in the world, which belonged to Petrobras, exploded off the coast of Brazil. 10 oil workers were killed. On March 20, after a series of devastating explosions, the platform sank, causing irreparable damage to the environment.

Deepwater horizon

The largest global environmental disaster to date is recognized as the accident at the Deepwater Horizon oil platform that occurred on April 20, 2010, 80 km off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico at the BP field. The explosion and fire on the platform killed 11 and injured 17 people. For 152 days of fighting the consequences of the accident, about 5 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, the oil slick reached 75 thousand square kilometers.

If the situation could not be brought under control, the scale of the consequences could be catastrophic, if not for the whole world, then at least for the entire Atlantic Ocean.

Translator Dmitry Shamshin Dubbing director Alexander Novikov Screenwriters Matthew Sand, Matthew Michael Carnahan, David Rohd, more Artists Chris Siegers, Douglas Cumming, Mark Fisichella, more

Do you know that

• The film is based on real events that occurred in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. Then one of the oil platforms exploded, creating the largest oil spill in the history of the United States.
• When the producers of the film contacted Mark Wahlberg, they informed him that they would like to see a duet of younger and older men on the screen. Wahlberg began to connect with familiar old actors whom he knew as Jack Nicholson. Only later, to his surprise, he found out that this role would go to him, and the young guy would be played by Dylan O'Brien.
• One of the roles in the film was offered to Emma Stone, but she refused, as the script was still incomplete.
• JC Chandor was offered the director's chair, but had to leave the project due to creative differences.
• The role in the film was offered to Kristen Stewart, but she had to refuse due to the mismatch of schedules.
• A huge set was built for the filming of an oil platform in Chalmette, Louisiana.
• Kate Hudson posted on her Instagram a photo with her stepfather Kurt Russell and noted that this film will be their first collaboration.
• A large number of workers who worked on oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico were opposed to making this film, because they believed that it would embarrass their dead colleagues.
• This is the second joint film by Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg. The first was Survivor (2013), which is also based on real events.

More facts (+6)

Mistakes in the film

• The Damon B. Bankston is anchored near the oil platform, but it is not visible on the general plans showing the disaster.
• When Mike's wife is on the phone, after she first learns of the disaster, her nails are painted pink. Just a couple of scenes later, her nails are not painted at all. It is possible, but it is unlikely that she would have become involved in manicure, waiting for news about whether her husband is alive or not.
• There are several scenes in the film that show the seabed and the BOP assembly. At the same time, gas bubbles are visible, which are bursting out of the ground. In fact, they could not be there. In order for gas to escape from the well through the bottom surface, there must have been more severe damage to the tank shell.
• Typically, the crew of a helicopter flying over water must wear special life jackets.
• V real life Oil rig employees take safety courses to teach them how to jump into the water in an emergency. In this case, the lifejacket should be held in hand, and not put on before the jump.
• In one scene, people are seen walking on the floor of an oil rig without special protection. This is a serious violation of safety regulations. Anyone entering an oil rig site is required to wear special protective equipment.
• The passengers of the Sikorsky S92 helicopter are quietly conducting a conversation, in fact it would have been impossible to do because of the noise. In addition, in some shots, they do not wear hearing protection. Also, at the helicopter landing site, there are simultaneously those people who get off it, and new passengers who get into the helicopter. In reality, this would not have happened. It is very dangerous to be on the helipad when the helicopter's engines are running and its blades are rotating. The procedure for boarding and disembarking is as follows - first, all passengers leave the helicopter and the landing pad, after which other passengers board the helicopter, and not all at once. And, being next to the helicopter, at the moment when its engines are running, because of the noise, it is practically impossible to talk to someone.
• The ship Damon B. Bankston was owned by Tidewater, but the film featured a Hornbeck Offshore Services ship and its logo is visible on the side of the wheelhouse. In addition, the Tidewater ships have a blue hull, while the ship in the film is black, and only the upper part of the ship is blue.
• The main reason the entire disaster happened was due to the cementing of the well. However, this moment was not shown visually in the film, although it is mentioned indirectly.

More mistakes (+6)

Plot

Beware, the text may contain spoilers!

The film is based on a true story that took place in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. The main character film - engineer on the oil platform "Deepwater Horizon" Mike Williams. At the beginning of the film, he says goodbye to his family and goes on a three-week shift to the platform, which is completing drilling for BP. At the helipad, he meets with his colleagues - platform manager Jimmy Harrell and navigational equipment operator Andrea Flateas. Together with other employees, they fly to the platform and immediately start working.

Harrell tries to find out from his employees if a cement test was carried out in the well and soon realizes that it was not. Together with Mike, he goes to the BP employees who were on the platform at the time. Chief among them, Donald Widrin, informs Jimmy that they did not see the need to conduct this expensive test and eventually agree with Harrell that they will conduct negative pressure tests. The results of this test were mixed, but Widrin was able to convince Harrell that the well was stable. He neglected the safety of the people due to the fact that the backlog was already unacceptable.

Mike and Jimmy went about their business, while the staff of the drilling rig continued their work. Soon, drilling mud began to escape from the well, followed by methane, which caused a fire. Explosions thundered everywhere on the platform and the crew began a hasty evacuation. Mike, who was not very seriously injured, began to help people get out to the lifeboats. He also found Harrell, who was badly damaged by the explosion. Together they reached the command bridge, where, with the help of Andrea, they managed to hold the platform above the well for a while. It was not possible to close it, and therefore the oil was poured directly into the ocean.

The lifeboats were picked up by the crew of the dry cargo ship, which at that moment was not far from the platform. Harrell and the others left the bridge and headed for the boats. It turned out that the latter had already been launched. They had to use a liferaft, but Mike and Andrea did not have time to get into it. To escape, they had to jump straight into the water, from where the seamen of the dry cargo ship got them. The rescued platform workers were taken to the hotel, where relatives were already waiting for them. As a result, 11 people died in this disaster, and the oil spill became the largest in the history of the United States.

Reviews of the film `` Deepwater Horizon ''

Reviews of the film "Deep Sea Horizon"

• Dmitry November 26, 2018 Movie rating 7/10

  A film based on a true story.

  Going through various safety briefings, they always warn that a large-scale accident / disaster does not occur due to any one mistake. If you investigate each disaster, then it can always be divided into three parts: Error at the beginning, in the middle a series of bad accidents (or human miscalculations), and in the end there are big problems ... No comments yet 1
• Mystery_girl_ March 9, 2018 Movie rating 8/10

  To escape

  Overall impression: What can be breathtaking and frightening at the same time? A disaster film based on a true story. It somehow happened that I missed this film, but now I made up for lost time by watching an interesting and spectacular movie. The picture can be safely divided into 2 parts ...

Vladimir Khomutko

Reading time: 5 minutes

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How did the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico happen and how was it cleared up?

In 2010, on April 22, in the Gulf of Mexico, a drilling platform owned by British Petroleum (BP), called Deepwater Horizon, sank, with the help of which BP was engaged in offshore oil production. The result of this disaster was the death of eleven people and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in the amount of several hundred thousand tons.

The company suffered huge losses, which forced it to start selling part of its assets in many countries around the world. All in all, as a result of this monstrous accident at sea, according to experts, almost five million barrels of crude oil fell into the sea.

Deepwater Horizon platform designed for ultra-deep drilling, commissioned by R&B Falcon Transocean Ltd. built by the South Korean shipbuilding company Hundai Industries. This large floating structure was launched in 2001, and after a while it was leased by the British oil and gas concern British Petroleum (BP). In the future, the lease was extended several times, and the last signed contract made it possible for BP to operate Deepwater Horizon until early 2013.

In February 2010, the British company began developing a deep-water field called Macondo, located on the shelf of the Gulf of Mexico. The depth of the drilled well was one and a half kilometers.

Brief description of the accident

The platform described above was located eighty kilometers off the coast of Louisiana (United States of America). On April 20, 2010, a fire broke out at Deepwater Horizon, which subsequently provoked its explosion.

The platform had been burning for over thirty-five hours. A whole flotilla of fire-fighting vessels that arrived at the scene of the accident was engaged in extinguishing the fire, but to no avail. The platform disappeared into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico on April 22nd.

As a result of this disaster, eleven people went missing (many consider them dead, since their bodies were searched until April 24, but they were never found). It was possible to evacuate 115 service personnel from the burning platform, seventeen of them had injuries of varying severity. After some time, the world news agencies reported that in the process of eliminating the consequences of this grand catastrophe, two more people died.

Elimination of the consequences of the accident on the Deepwater Horizon platform

Elimination of the consequences of this ecological disaster began on April 20 and continued until September 19, 2010. According to information received from some experts, during this period of time, about five thousand barrels of crude oil were poured into the sea every day. Other competent sources asserted that the daily volume of oil entering the sea was up to 100 thousand barrels.

Extinguishing a fire on an oil platform Deepwater Horizon

It was on this figure that the Secretary of the Interior of the United States of America insisted in May 2010.

The consequences of the accident were dire. In late April, the oil slick reached the mouth of the American Mississippi River, and in July of the same year, crude oil was found on the beaches of Texas. The underwater oil plume sank to a depth of more than a kilometer and stretched thirty-five kilometers in length.

For 152 days, while the liquidation work was carried out, almost five million barrels of black gold got into the Gulf of Mexico through the damaged wellbore, and the total area of ​​the pollution spot reached seventy-five thousand square kilometers.

After the flooding of the Deepwater Horizon platform, attempts began immediately to seal the oil well in order to stop oil from entering the aquatic environment and begin to localize and eliminate raw materials that had already entered the sea. Almost immediately after the disaster, specialists installed plugs on the damaged pipe string.

Then work began on the installation and subsequent installation of a steel dome, the task of which was to cover the sunken platform in order to prevent further oil spills. However, it was not possible to install the dome on the first attempt. On May 13, it was decided to reduce its diameter and try again.

The oil leak was completely eliminated only on August 4, when drilling fluid with cement was pumped into the damaged well. To achieve complete tightness of the well, the liquidators of the accident were forced to drill two additional unloading wells, which were subsequently cemented as well. The completion of the well was officially announced on September 19, 2010.

Numerous vessels of various purposes - rescue boats, barges - took part in eliminating the consequences of the disaster. Tugs and even submarines belonging to BP. To help them, the United States provided ships and aircraft from its Navy and Air Force, as well as many units of special military equipment... As for the human resource, more than a thousand people took part in this grandiose work, to whom almost six thousand soldiers of the American National Guard were attached to help.

In order to limit the area of ​​oil pollution as much as possible, sprayed dispersants ( active substances contributing to the deposition of oil spills). In addition, many kilometers of booms were installed, which localized the area of ​​the accidental spill.

Oil was collected mechanically, both with the use of special oil-skimming ships, and manually - with the help of numerous volunteers who helped clean the polluted coast. In addition, a thermal method was used to eliminate pollution, which consists in the controlled burning of oil from water surface.

An internal investigation carried out by BP's own security service concluded that the reasons for this monstrous accident were inaccuracies in the platform design, a number of technical malfunctions and mistakes made by operating personnel.

The prepared report detailed that the staff servicing the floating rig, when checking the tightness of the drilled well, misinterpreted the readings of the pressure measuring instruments.

As a result of this error, the flow of hydrocarbons that had risen from the bottom of the hole filled the ventilation system of the drilling platform, and a fire started. After the explosion, due to technical flaws in the platform design, the anti-blowout safety device did not operate, the task of which was to automatically give a signal to block the wellbore.

In turn, the Bureau of Ocean Resources Management, Conservation and Regulation and the United States Coast Guard were also investigating. The result of this investigation was a report published in mid-September 2010. It outlined thirty-five causes that led to the disaster, with twenty-one of them blaming BP.

In more detail, for example, the main reason for the accident in this report was the disregard for industrial safety standards in order to save money spent on the development of the field. In addition, the drilling staff did not have exhaustive and complete information about the work on the well, and this ignorance, superimposed on the mistakes they made, led to catastrophic consequences.

Among other reasons for the accident, the report named the unsuccessful design of the well itself, which did not provide for a sufficient number of barriers to prevent oil and gas from rising from the bottom, insufficient cementing of casing reinforcing strings, as well as changes made to the well development project at the very last moment.

Part of the blame was attributed to the owners of Deepwater Horizon, Transocean Ltd, and Halliburton, the contractor for the subsea cementing of the well.

Litigation and awards awarded

The lawsuit, which examined the case of the oil spill in the Mexican spill, in which the British corporation BP was the defendant, was started on February 25, 2013. The venue was chosen New Orleans(USA). In addition to the lawsuits brought by the federal authorities of the country, the British company was also sued by the American states and municipalities affected by the consequences of the disaster.

The result of the consideration by the Federal court in the American New Orleans was the approval of the amount of the fine that BP must pay to the plaintiffs affected by the consequences of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The total amount of the fine was four billion five hundred million US dollars. BP was given a five-year deadline to pay this amount.

About two billion four hundred million dollars should be transferred to the accounts of the National Wildlife and Fish Resources of the United States, 350 million dollars - to the accounts of the American National Academy of Sciences. In addition, $ 525 million is to be paid over three years in compensation for claims brought against BP by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

BP filed several appeals, but the US Court of Appeal on December 25, 2013 ruled that the British corporation should continue the payments ordered by the Federal Court, despite the fact that in the case there are facts of lack of evidence that some plaintiffs had losses caused by the oil spill in Gulf of Mexico. From the very beginning, BP only partially admitted its guilt for the accident, placing part of the responsibility on the owner of the Deepwater Horizon platform, Transocean, and the contractor Halliburton.

In turn, the Transocean Ltd company at the end of 2012 agreed to pay the American authorities an amount of one billion four hundred million dollars, but does not admit any responsibility for what happened in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, insisting on complete guilt in this the catastrophe of the British BP.

Environmental consequences of the disaster

As a result of this accident, one third of the Gulf of Mexico was closed to fishing, with a complete ban on fishing in the area.

The coastline from Louisiana to Florida, polluted by an accidental oil spill, was one thousand one hundred miles. Many marine life and birds perished. Almost six hundred dead sea turtles, more than one hundred dolphins, more than six thousand different seabirds were found on the shore, as well as a large number of dead mammals of other species.

Over the years since the accident, this oil spill has resulted in increased mortality among marine life such as dolphins and whales. According to preliminary estimates of experts - ecologists, the mortality rate, for example, of dolphins - bottlenose dolphins has increased fifty times.

Tropical coral reefs located in the water area of ​​this bay have suffered colossal damage.

Moreover, the oil spilled as a result of the disaster even leaked into the waters and swamps of nature reserves on the coast, which play a very significant role in maintaining normal natural life local animal fauna and migratory birds arriving here for the winter. Recent environmental studies indicate that the Gulf of Mexico has almost completely coped with the damage caused in 2010.

US oceanologists, who have been carefully monitoring the growth of corals that form tropical reefs, which simply cannot live in oil-polluted water, have come to the conclusion that the reproduction of these marine living organisms has resumed, and growth has returned to its previous level. As for biologists, they noted a slight increase in the value of the average water temperature in this sea area.

It has even been suggested that the temperature of the Gulf Stream dropped by ten degrees, which led to its separation into separate underwater currents. It is worth noting that since this massive accidental oil spill occurred, some weather anomalies have been noted by forecasters (take at least anomalous winter frosts in European countries).

However, at the moment, world science has not come to a consensus on the question of whether this ecological catastrophy the root cause of the described climatic changes or not. There is no agreement in the scientific community about the impact of this accident on the Gulf Stream. In any case, catastrophes of this magnitude do not pass without leaving a trace, and a repetition of such incidents of a global scale should in no case be allowed.

V modern world oil plays an important role in life support Of the earth... Thanks to her, cars drive, many installations work, and so on. Using oil humanity advances in scientific and technological progress, creating new devices and machines. But everyone has long known that oil has a detrimental effect on environment: A drop of this product can render thousands of liters of water undrinkable. It is difficult even to imagine what would happen if thousands of tons of oil were poured into the ocean. However, it happened.

Normal working days
Deepwater horizon- an American oil platform, the name of which is translated into Russian as Deepwater Horizon... This installation worked in the Gulf of Mexico near the field Tiber... By the way, the platform held the record for drilling deep wells - the record for a depth of more than ten kilometers belongs to it.

Day after day, the oil production unit worked, continuing to set new records for the extraction of minerals. According to various sources, the number of employees ranged from 130 to 160 people simultaneously on the platform.

What happened?
Because oil Is, first of all, a combustible substance, then one spark is enough to start a fire. In April 2010, the platform “ Deep sea horizon " lit up. it real story, resulting in a large number of human casualties.

A cause of fire became the negligence of people working for Horizon... Monitors have shown strong pressure surges for a long time, but no one paid attention to this. And the valve could not stand, but burst out combustible methane gas... A single spark is enough to turn the platform into a burning torch. And so it happened - everything was enveloped in fire.

All the people who were at their workplaces escaped as best they could: someone jumped from a height of 25 meters, someone on “ heads"Ran to the lifeboats. As a result, seven people were seriously injured, eleven people went missing, and four were in critical condition.

Oil spills over a long distance
According to Western media reports mass media, oil spilled more than 150 days... For such a substantial period of time, the well "Squeezed out" of myself five million barrels oil(for your information, one barrel is about 159 liters). Every day, five thousand barrels of natural resources flowed out of the oil channel.

Spot oil in the ocean has reached mind-boggling figures - 75 thousand square meters. The distance to the nearby coast is only 34 kilometers, in particular to Louisiana... Natural raw materials spread at a breakneck speed, littering rivers and lakes.

It’s scary to imagine what could happen when the oil reached warm current Gulf Stream... If it did happen, then the West Coasts Europe would be shrouded in oil. And all the flora and fauna simply began to die.

What did the disaster entail?
The consequences of the disaster were very serious. Of course, the first thing to suffer is the environment. Just imagine - nearly 1800 kilometers of coasts were polluted with oil. Naturally, after all that has happened, the waters are no longer suitable for vacationers, and the coast is "painted" black. Fishing ban introduced in several states Of America.

Many animals died: about 600 dead turtles were found, tons of dead fish, many dead birds. Various fishing operations in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico are prohibited.

Many industries have suffered from this disaster: oil, the tourism and fishing industries suffered colossal losses. A third of the entire bay was closed to anglers. Although the other part was freely available, there were still problems with the sale of products.

Elimination of accident consequences
The coast guard service began to liquidate the consequences of the disaster United States of America... More than 1,000 people and 6,000 military personnel took part in the operation. Many ships, barges and boats have tried to purify the water from malignant oil.

The most effective way to eliminate an oil slick is to burn it out. V night from 28 to 29 April 2010 of the year, the spot was set on fire for the first time near Louisiana. Over the entire period of liquidation of the consequences, more than four hundred cases of burnout were carried out. Of course, it bore fruit.

One of the most effective ways to purify water is to spray a special chemical solution using airplanes - dispersant... In this case, the oil will be broken into small spots, which, under the weight of their own weight, will sink to the bottom.

The last way- this is the usual collection of oil. It was carried out either with the help of special skimmer ships (the so-called collectors), or with the help of volunteers on the coast. It was difficult to clean the sandy beaches, as the oil simply mixed with the sand, stopping into a homogeneous mass.

Causes of the accident
The investigation into the causes of the disaster was carried out by two organizations - BP and the United States Coast Guard... According to the former, the main reason is anthropogenic. The person simply did not keep track of the devices showing critical values.