section_path: Pollution/Oil spills
section_name: Oil spills
paragraph_text: Oil spills
  
  According to the National Response Center, the oil industry has thousands of minor accidents annually in the Gulf of Mexico. The gulf's largest oil spill to date began in June 1979, when the Ixtoc I oil platform in the Bay of Campeche suffered a blowout and a catastrophic explosion, and lasted until the well was finally capped in April 1980.
  
  On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, located in the Mississippi Canyon about 64 km (40 miles) off the Louisiana coast and operated by the British multinational company BP, suffered a catastrophic explosion and later sank. Oil flowed from the wellhead, about 1.5 km (0.9 mi) below the surface on the ocean floor, creating a slick that covered hundreds of square kilometers of ocean surface, threatening marine life, adjacent coastal wetlands, and the livelihoods of Gulf Coast shrimpers and fishermen. Estimates of the daily flow jumped several times—on April 24, it was 160 cubic meters (1,000 bbl) by BP's estimate; on April 28, a NOAA scientist increased the estimate to 5,000 barrels (790 m 3); and on May 27 the USGS put the rate at 12,000–19,000 barrels per day (1,900–3,000 m 3 /d). Final estimates suggested a leak of 62,000 barrels per day (9,900 m 3 /d), a scale that had been suggested by both independent observers and federal scientists early on, but official attempts to release modeling data had been suppressed by the White House Office of Management and Budget according to a report by the government commission investigating the response.: 10 On July 15, BP announced that the leak had stopped. In July, BP agreed to pay $18.7 billion to the U.S. government, the states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, as well as 400 local authorities. As of 2015, BP had spent $54 billion on cleanup, penalties, and to repair environmental and economic damage.
  
  On May 12, 2016, oil from subsea infrastructure on Shell's Brutus oil rig released 2,100 barrels of oil. This leak created a 5 to 34 km (3.1 to 21.1 mi) oil slick in the sea about 156 km (97 miles) south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana, according to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.
  
  According to the National Response Center, the oil industry has thousands of minor accidents annually in the Gulf of Mexico. The gulf's largest oil spill to date began in June 1979, when the Ixtoc I oil platform in the Bay of Campeche suffered a blowout and a catastrophic explosion, and lasted until the well was finally capped in April 1980.
  
  On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, located in the Mississippi Canyon about 64 km (40 miles) off the Louisiana coast and operated by the British multinational company BP, suffered a catastrophic explosion and later sank. Oil flowed from the wellhead, about 1.5 km (0.9 mi) below the surface on the ocean floor, creating a slick that covered hundreds of square kilometers of ocean surface, threatening marine life, adjacent coastal wetlands, and the livelihoods of Gulf Coast shrimpers and fishermen. Estimates of the daily flow jumped several times—on April 24, it was 160 cubic meters (1,000 bbl) by BP's estimate; on April 28, a NOAA scientist increased the estimate to 5,000 barrels (790 m 3); and on May 27 the USGS put the rate at 12,000–19,000 barrels per day (1,900–3,000 m 3 /d). Final estimates suggested a leak of 62,000 barrels per day (9,900 m 3 /d), a scale that had been suggested by both independent observers and federal scientists early on, but official attempts to release modeling data had been suppressed by the White House Office of Management and Budget according to a report by the government commission investigating the response.: 10 On July 15, BP announced that the leak had stopped. In July, BP agreed to pay $18.7 billion to the U.S. government, the states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, as well as 400 local authorities. As of 2015, BP had spent $54 billion on cleanup, penalties, and to repair environmental and economic damage.
  
  On May 12, 2016, oil from subsea infrastructure on Shell's Brutus oil rig released 2,100 barrels of oil. This leak created a 5 to 34 km (3.1 to 21.1 mi) oil slick in the sea about 156 km (97 miles) south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana, according to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.