Health consequences of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill effects, while even very low doses can cause mutagenic effects, with cancer of particular concern. The carcinogens of concern in crude oil are benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are present in oil and in the air as a result of offshore controlled burning of crude oil. During the 2010 BP/Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill, an estimated one of every 20 barrels of spilled oil was deliberately burned off. Routes of exposure include contact and inhalation. The EPA obtained hundreds of air samples during the spill and a review showed that none of the samples showed concentrations of benzene
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