For thousands of years, we have witnessed many occupations and colonies in our world. The main reason for these occupations was the underground riches in the occupied country. Oil is such a precious metal that there will be a war for it. Do you have any idea about the uncontrolled release of tons of such a precious metal into nature?
Maybe you are not familiar with the event we want to talk about. But today, we will tell you about the event where the world’s largest oil drilling center was blown up, in which 46 million barrels of oil was blindly destroyed (!). Here is the story of Deepwater Horizon, the subject of movies and documentaries…
The world’s largest oil drilling platform: Deepwater Horizon
Deepwater Horizon; The world’s largest oil drilling platform with high-end features, suitable for operation even in very deep seas and oceans, belonging to the Transocean company.
This massive platform was designed and manufactured by South Korean industrial giant Hyundai in 2001 and sold to Transocean. Although the platform was originally under the Panamanian flag, it was later registered as the Marshall Islands.
Transocean’s lease agreement with BP
In the 2000s, a dense oil seam was detected in the deepest points of the Gulf of Mexico. BP (British Petroleum), one of the world’s largest oil companies, signed a contract with Transocean for a validity of 5 years (2008 – 2013) to conduct drilling works here, and drilling works began in the Gulf of Mexico.
Giant fireballs in the ocean
In September 2009, Deepwater Horizon began work on the Macondo Well, the deepest oil well in history. The drilling site is approximately 400 km east of Houston, USA; It was a wide area with a sea depth of 10683 meters vertically and 1259 meters.
On April 20, 2010, at 21:45 US local time, as a result of various complications during the drilling process of the Macondo Well during the excavation process, an oil and gas eruption disaster reaching a height of 73 meters occurred. This gush, a mixture of mud, methane gas and oil; It soon turned into a huge fire. Meanwhile, Deepwater Horizon’s fire suppression system failed to activate. During the fire, there were 7 consecutive massive explosions in the area. There was complete chaos in the area at that time.
The firefighters who went to the area describe this huge explosion as “Dante’s Inferno”. 126 personnel were evacuated quickly and safely thanks to the measures taken in the region and the helicopter waiting at the ready, but 11 personnel lost their lives during the first explosion. Even the dead bodies of the personnel who lost their lives have not been found yet.
Continuing process after the explosion
While the fire that occurred with the explosion continued for 2 days, the fire ended with the complete sinking of the giant platform. While the oil spill continued until the 87th day; It was blocked on July 15, 2010 by the cover method. In September 2010, the well was completely turned into a “dead well” after some reports found that the leak continued.
The magnitude of the material and moral damage caused by Deepwater Horizon
Oil stripping after the disaster
Platform owner Transocean, insurance company Deepwater While receiving a total payment of 601 million dollars for Horizon; The US Judiciary found BP 67%, Transocean 30% and Halliburton 3% guilty for the environmental damage this accident caused. After this decision; BP paid $20 billion (in installments), Transocean $1.4 billion and Halliburton $1.1 billion.
BP’s historic $20 billion fine made history as the largest fine imposed on a corporation in US history. BP agreed with the United States to pay this historic penalty in installments over 16 years.
BP’s allegations and confessions
According to BP’s claims, Transocean company could not detect the hydrocarbon leak that occurred in the well and lasted for 40 minutes, and this leak did not cause the explosion. led to For this reason, BP filed lawsuits in order not to pay the hefty compensation, but the decision of the judiciary did not change.
Halliburton company admitted that it destroyed the necessary evidence during the investigations. Halliburton also announced that it has donated $55 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation upon this confession.
The amount of oil mixed with nature and its effects
USA announced that 49 million barrels of oil leaked into nature and spread during this disaster. Although the oil mixed with the ocean was subjected to oil stripping by special ships, only 800 thousand oil could be recovered from 49 million barrels of oil.
Due to this bitter nature massacre, many sea creatures lost their lives, and the surrounding soil lost its fertility. Serious health problems were seen in surviving creatures, even in later generations.
Deepwater Horizon disaster in popular culture
The movie “Deepwater Horizon”, which was released in 2016 about the Deepwater Horizon incident, is available on Netflix; You can watch the documentary “Deep Water Horizon In Their Own Words” on Amazon Prime.
What do you think about the Deepwater Horizon disaster? Have you encountered this disaster anywhere before? Do you think Deepwater Horizon and Chernobyl’s damage to nature can be compared? You can specify in the comments.
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