Deepwater Horizon litigation Deepwater Horizon litigation The civil and criminal proceedings stemming from the explosion of "Deepwater Horizon" and the resulting massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico began shortly after the April 20, 2010 incident and have continued since then. They have included an extensive claims settlement process for a guilty plea to criminal charges by BP, and an ongoing Clean Water Act lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and other parties. A federal judge, ruling on the Clean Water Act suit in September 2014, found that BP was primarily responsible for the oil spill as a result of
Ixtoc I oil spill Ixtoc I oil spill Ixtoc I was an exploratory oil well being drilled by the semi-submersible drilling rig "Sedco 135" in the Bay of Campeche of the Gulf of Mexico, about northwest of Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche in waters deep. On 3 June 1979, the well suffered a blowout resulting in one of the largest oil spills in history. Mexico's state-owned oil company Pemex (Petróleos Mexicanos) was drilling a deep oil well when the drilling rig "Sedco 135" lost drilling mud circulation. In modern rotary drilling, mud is circulated down the drill pipe and back up the well bore to