Timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill Timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill The following is a timeline of the "Deepwater Horizon" oil spill (also referred to as the BP oil spill, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill or the Macondo blowout). It was a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest offshore spill in U.S. history. It was a result of the well blowout that began with the "Deepwater Horizon" drilling rig explosion on April 20, 2010. BP reports a leak a day. DeepWaterHorizonResponse.com domain registered for one year by PIER Systems in Bellingham, Washington to be used by the United States
Gulf of Mexico BP reached an $18.7bn settlement with the US government, the states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, as well as 400 local authorities. To date BP's cost for the clean-up, environmental and economic damages and penalties has reached $54bn. According to the National Response Center, the oil industry has thousands of minor accidents in the Gulf of Mexico every year. On May 12, 2016, a release of oil from subsea infrastructure on Shell's "Brutus" oil rig released 2,100 barrels of oil. This leak created a visible 2 mile by 13 mile oil slick in the sea about 97 miles