Gross amount of oil released to date (barrels): 2,275,000 to 4,140,000
Amount of oil recovered by BP to date (barrels): 804,580
Net amount of oil released to date (barrels): 1,470,420 to 3,335,420
Oil recovered as % of oil gross release (current day): 28% to 49%
Oil recovered as % of oil gross release (to date): 19% to 35%
Federal waters closed to fishing (sq mi): 83,927
Federal waters closed to fishing (% total area): 35%
Dispersant used to date (gallons): 1,810,000
Oily water collected to date (gallons): 31,400,000
Number of vessels involved in response: 6,800
Number of people involved in response: 45,000
claims/payments/value of payments made by BP to date: 105,000 52,500 $165,000,000
Cost of the response to BP to date (billions): $3.50
One share of BP stock as % of its value on April 19, 2010: 62%
Maximum aerial extent of surface slick to date (sq mi): 28,958
Controlled burns to date: 330
Oil consumed by controlled burns (gallons): 10,300,000
Days to reach Ixtoc 1 spill level: -13 to 30
Days to reach Gulf War spill level: 26 to 98
Assumptions regarding the release of oil:
- The release of oil started on April 22, 2010; the Deepwater Horizon sank at about 10:00 AM.
- From April 22 to June 3, the rate of release was between 20,000 and 40,000 barrels per day, the upper and lower estimates made by the government’s Flow Rate Technical Group on June 10.
- After June 3 when the riser was cut, the flow rate increased to between 35,000 and 60,ooo barrels per day, the upper and lower estimates made by the government’s Flow Rate Technical Group as reported by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.
- The riser insertion tube tool (RITT) containment system collected about 22,000 barrels of oil during its operation from May 8 to May 25. This is equal to about 1,222 barrels per day. These data are from the BP web site.
- The Lower Marine Riser Package (LMRP) system began to recover oil on June 4. The Q4000 system began to recover oil on June 16. Data on the rates of oil recovery are from the BP web site.
- There are several credible estimates of the rate of of oil release that are significantly greater than the estimates of the FRTG.
Historic oil spills
Ixtoc I was an exploratory oil in the Bay of Campeche of the Gulf of Mexico that suffered a blowout in 1979 and released about 3.3 million barrels of oil.
The Gulf War oil spill refers to the deliberate release of about 5.7 billion barrels of oil in the Persian Gulf by Iraqi forces in 1991 during the Gulf War.
Further reading
Read more about the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Encyclopedia of Earth.
Sources:
- oil release: my calculations
- fishery closures: NOAA
- vessels, dispersants, people, controlled burns: Deepwater Horizon Unified Command
- DP claims, expenses: BP
- extent of surface slick: Skytruth
- value of BP stock: Yahoo! Finance
- historic oil spills: Environmental Research Consulting
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