Offshore oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico (United States) blowout) began on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. Killing eleven people, it is considered the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry and estimated to be 8% to 31% larger in volume than the previous largest, the Ixtoc I oil spill. In 2012, federal leases in the Gulf of Mexico produced of oil, which made up 19.5% of all U.S. oil production that year, and more than that of any U.S. state other than Texas. The 2012 production was less than the in 2009; however, due to new
Infighting in the Gulf Cartel the cartel infighting can open doors for Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán of the Sinaloa Cartel to send gunmen to Tamaulipas. The current alliance between the Sinaloa cartel and the Gulf Cartel is only a "marriage of convenience;" the ultimate goal of "El Chapo" Guzmán is to take over Tamaulipas, and working with Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez was his only access. Costilla Sánchez, on the other hand, needed the Sinaloa cartel's support to fight off Los Zetas and settle disputes with the Rojos. The capture of Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez and Mario Cárdenas Guillén leaves the Gulf Cartel without a definite