Deepwater Horizon oil spill Deepwater Horizon oil spill The "Deepwater Horizon" oil spill (also referred to as the BP oil spill/leak, the BP oil disaster, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the Macondo blowout) is an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considered to be 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. The U.S. government estimated the total discharge at . After several failed efforts to contain
Volume and extent of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill over areas of the gulf to document the scope of the disaster. Meanwhile, Phil Radford documented BP's methods of escaping liability and keeping people hired to clean the oil spill out of areas affected by the oil spill. These accusations were leveled at BP, its contractors, local law enforcement, USCG, and other government officials. Scientists also complained about prevention of access to information controlled by BP and government sources. BP stated that its policy was to allow the media and other parties as much access as possible. On 30 June 2010, the USCG put new restrictions in place across the