BP touts itself as green , about the BP oil spill in 2010 - Article Example

BP touts itself as “green” article, about the BP oil spill in The BP oil spill of the year is the largest marine accident in which large volumes of crude oil flowed into the ocean. The outflow that ran for more than three months had significant and adverse effects on marine life as well as health and economic consequences. This paper seeks to report on the events of the oil spill. Actions and decisions of BP, its contractors and their involved personnel, together with the responsible federal regulatory agency are the major events into the explosion and spill.

According to BP’s findings that further, the facility ought to have had the ability to automatically seal the well after the explosion. Such a failure was the significant immediate event into the leak. Other events that led to the spill identify responsibilities of many parties (BP, P. 1). While BP appears to be the sole responsible entity to the accident, involved negligence in activities that led to the spill identify liabilities to many parties. The contractor company that was responsible for operations at the time of the blast was for example an independent contractor.

Similarly, federal supervisors who ought to have detected any form of negligence towards liability approved the operations that preceded the blast. BP however exercised significant control over its contractor. Four parties therefore played a role into the blast that culminated into the oil spill. BP played a role as the owner of the site, “Transocean and Halliburton” who were the managers of the sight and the federal regulators who had the authority to supervise the operations at the sight (BBC, P. 1). Negligence on all the parties was therefore a major set of events towards the accident.

This is because the design that was used at the well’s base for sealing was inappropriate for the applied type of cement. Similarly, preliminary tests were done on the structure and flaws detected, but were misjudged for success. There were also signs of explosion but the workers failed to identify the signs that could have been used to establish preventive measures (BBC, P. 1). The events after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico were widely reported by the media together with investigation based documentary and reports from inquiries.

The events of the accident can also be explored through analysis of what took place within the vicinity of BP’s drilling facilities towards the spill and consequences of the leak. The main accident that led to the spill occurred April 20, 2010. A “Transocean drilling rig Deep water Horizon” exploded into flames within the Gulf of Mexico (Guardian, p. 1). Almost thirty people were victims of the explosion and about eleven individuals were reported missing while 17 people sustained injuries.

There was an attempt to block crude oil from leaking into the ocean but the initiative was not successful. Two days later, the Deepwater Horizon rig sank deep into the ocean and significant leak was reported as the search for the missing victims continued. Government risk analysts however underestimated the spill and predicted that no significant impact would be felt, especially in economic factors and in the oil market. On 24 April, a leaking well was noted though government sources underestimated its immediate impact.

A day later, a high rate of about 1000 barrels leak per day was reported and a corrective measure initiated to control the leak from under the water. A subsequent analysis then declared the spill a potential environmental hazard as the outflow had increased to 5000 barrels per day by April 28 and spread over water (Guardian, p. 1). Affected regions were then closed of economic activities such as fishing and BP managed to fix a valve to manage the outflow within the first week of May. This, however, did not control the leak and collecting oil from water surface was adopted by May 6.

A number of unsuccessful attempts were then made by BP to control the leak. Such initiatives included using valves to slow down the flow, using domes to collect spilled oil from water surface, applying “junk shot,” use of tubes to transfer the leaking oil to the water surface instead of its leak into the deep waters and “top kill” (Guardian, p. 1). A successful venture was however realized on September 19 when BP finally sealed the leakage (Guardian, p. 1). The impacts of the spill were however far reaching and could be physically observed.

The crude oil for example spread over the waters and was blown to shores. It was wide and was felt in regions of “Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida” (Dosomething, p. 1). The events about the BP oil spill therefore involved a level of engineering negligence that led to the explosion. There was a further failure to control the initial leak by developing a seal. The resultant spill then ran over months with adverse environmental and economic effects. Works cited BBC. US oil spill: ‘Bad management’ led to BP disaster.

January 6, 2011. Web. October 8, 2012. < http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12124830> BP. BP releases report on causes of Gulf of Mexico tragedy. BP. September 08 2010. Web. October 8, 2012. < http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=2012968&contentId=7064893>. Guardian. BP oil spill timeline. The Guardian. July 22, 2010. Web. 0ctober 8, 2012. < http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/29/bp-oil-spill-timeline-deepwater-horizon> Dosomething. 11 facts about the BP oil spill.

Do Something. N.d. Web. October 8, 2012. < http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-bp-oil-spill>