Oil Spill Glossary Berm, Dispersants, Static Kill, and more A-Q| R-W Annulus The space between the pipe and the wellbore. Biodegradation The breaking down of substances by microorganisms, such as oil-hungry Alcanivorax, which use the substances for food and generally release harmless byproducts such as carbon dioxide and water. Berm A wall or barrier of sand usually used to protect against flooding along coasts, used to stop oil from washing up on Gulf Coast beaches. Boom A temporary floating barrier used to contain an oil spill. Blowout An uncontrolled flow of reservoir fluids into the wellbore, and sometimes catastrophically to the surface. A blowout may consist of salt water, oil, gas or a mixture of these. Blind shear ram The part of the blowout preventer that can completely seal the well. Blowout preventer (BOP) A large valve at the top of a well that may be closed in the event of a problem. Bottom kill A procedure in which mud and cement are pumped from deep underground to seal the well permanently. Containment cap A collection device engineered to create a seal over an open pipe atop the blowout preventer to funnel leaking oil up to a tanker ship floating above. Crude oil Unrefined petroleum or liquid petroleum. Dispersants Chemicals, such as Corexit, used to break down spilled oil into small droplets. Fossil fuels Fuel, such as oil, formed in the earth from plant or animal remains. Junk shot One method of temporarily plugging an oil leak by shooting material such as shredded tires and golf balls into the broken wellhead. Loop current Flow of warm ocean water that steers Gulf waters toward Florida. Moratorium Suspension of activity. A-Q|R-W Relief well A secondary well drilled to intersect the leaking main well, allowing engineers to intercept the oil flow from the reservoir below and pump in cement and heavy fluids to stop the leak. Rig Machine used to drill a wellbore. Riser pipe The pipe that connects an underwater wellhead to the drilling rig floating on the surface of the ocean above. Skimmers Devices, such as boats, used to remove oil from the water's surface. Slick A thin film of oil on the water's surface. Static Kill A method of spill containment which involves pumping mud and cement into the damaged well to prevent more oil from leaking into the ocean. Tar balls Dense, black sticky spheres of hydrocarbons; formed from weathered oil. Top hat A containment device used to cap off the oil. Top kill A temporary method of sealing an oil well involving pumping dense mud into the blowout preventer under such high pressure that it forces the leaking oil back into the ground. Wellbore A hole drilled for the purpose of extracting oil. Wellhead A system of spools, valves and assorted adapters that provide pressure control of a production well. The wellhead is the component at the surface of the wellbore to which the apparatus for extracting the oil is attached. The blowout preventer is at the wellhead.

Oil Spills and Disasters The following list includes major oil spills since 1967. The circumstances surrounding the spill, amount of oil spilled, and the attendant environmental damage is also given. 1967 March 18, Cornwall, Eng.:Torrey Canyonran aground, spilling 38 million gallons of crude oil off the Scilly Islands. 1976 Dec. 15, Buzzards Bay, Mass.:Argo Merchantran aground and broke apart southeast of Nantucket Island, spilling its entire cargo of 7.7 million gallons of fuel oil. 1977 April, North Sea:blowout of well in Ekofisk oil field leaked 81 million gallons. 1978 March 16, off Portsall, France:wrecked supertankerAmoco Cadizspilled 68 million gallons, causing widespread environmental damage over 100 mi of Brittany coast. 1979 June 3, Gulf of Mexico:exploratory oil well Ixtoc 1 blew out, spilling an estimated 140 million gallons of crude oil into the open sea. Although it is one of the largest known oil spills, it had a low environmental impact. July 19, Tobago:theAtlantic Empressand theAegean Captaincollided, spilling 46 million gallons of crude. While being towed, theAtlantic Empressspilled an additional 41 million gallons off Barbados on Aug. 2. 1980 March 30, Stavanger, Norway:floating hotel in North Sea collapsed, killing 123 oil workers. 1983 Feb. 4, Persian Gulf, Iran:Nowruz Field platform spilled 80 million gallons of oil. Aug. 6, Cape Town, South Africa:the Spanish tankerCastillo de Bellvercaught fire, spilling 78 million gallons of oil off the coast. 1988 July 6, North Sea off Scotland:166 workers killed in explosion and fire on Occidental Petroleum'sPiper Alpharig in North Sea; 64 survivors. It is the world's worst offshore oil disaster. Nov. 10, Saint John's, Newfoundland:Odysseyspilled 43 million gallons of oil. 1989 March 24, Prince William Sound, Alaska:tankerExxon Valdezhit an undersea reef and spilled 10 million–plus gallons of oil into the water, causing the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Dec. 19, off Las Palmas, the Canary Islands:explosion in Iranian supertanker, theKharg-5,caused 19 million gallons of crude oil to spill into Atlantic Ocean about 400 mi north of Las Palmas, forming a 100-square-mile oil slick. 1990 June 8, off Galveston, Tex.:Mega Borgreleased 5.1 million gallons of oil some 60 nautical miles south-southeast of Galveston as a result of an explosion and subsequent fire in the pump room. 1991 Jan. 23–27, southern Kuwait:during the Persian Gulf War, Iraq deliberately released 240–460 million gallons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf from tankers 10 mi off Kuwait. Spill had little military significance. On Jan. 27, U.S. warplanes bombed pipe systems to stop the flow of oil. April 11, Genoa, Italy:Havenspilled 42 million gallons of oil in Genoa port. May 28, Angola:ABT Summerexploded and leaked 15–78 million gallons of oil off the coast of Angola. It's not clear how much sank or burned. 1992 March 2, Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan:88 million gallons of oil spilled from an oil well. 1993 Aug. 10, Tampa Bay, Fla.:three ships collided, the bargeBouchard B155,the freighterBalsa 37,and the bargeOcean 255.TheBouchardspilled an estimated 336,000 gallons of No. 6 fuel oil into Tampa Bay. 1994 Sept. 8, Russia:dam built to contain oil burst and spilled oil into Kolva River tributary. U.S. Energy Department estimated spill at 2 million barrels. Russian state-owned oil company claimed spill was only 102,000 barrels. 1996 Feb. 15, off Welsh coast:supertankerSea Empressran aground at port of Milford Haven, Wales, spewed out 70,000 tons of crude oil, and created a 25-mile slick. 1999 Dec. 12, French Atlantic coast:Maltese-registered tankerErikabroke apart and sank off Britanny, spilling 3 million gallons of heavy oil into the sea. 2000 Jan. 18, off Rio de Janeiro:ruptured pipeline owned by government oil company, Petrobras, spewed 343,200 gallons of heavy oil into Guanabara Bay. Nov. 28, Mississippi River south of New Orleans:oil tankerWestchesterlost power and ran aground near Port Sulphur, La., dumping 567,000 gallons of crude oil into lower Mississippi. Spill was largest in U.S. waters sinceExxon Valdezdisaster in March 1989. 2002 Nov. 13, Spain:Prestigesuffered a damaged hull and was towed to sea and sank. Much of the 20 million gallons of oil remains underwater. 2003 July 28, Pakistan:TheTasman Spirit,a tanker, ran aground near the Karachi port, and eventually cracked into two pieces. One of its four oil tanks burst open, leaking 28,000 tons of crude oil into the sea. 2004 Dec. 7, Unalaska, Aleutian Islands, Alaska:A major storm pushed the M/VSelendang Ayuup onto a rocky shore, breaking it in two. 337,000 gallons of oil were released, most of which was driven onto the shoreline of Makushin and Skan Bays.

Ten Largest Oil Spills in the U.S. The following table lists the largest oil spills in U.S. history. The date of the spill, circumstances surrounding the spill, and amount of oil spilled are also given. RankDateCauseSourceLocationSpill Volume 1.April 20, 2010explosiondrilling rigDeepwater HorizonGulf of Mexico, 50 miles off the coast of Louisianaan estimated 200,000 gallons a day 2.March 24, 1989reef collisiontankerExxon ValdezPrince William Sound, Alaska10+ million gallons 3.Dec. 15, 1976ran agroundtankerArgo MerchantNantucket Island7.7 million gallons 4.Aug.–Sept. 2005Hurricane Katrinavarious sourcesNew Orleans, La.7 million gallons 5.June 8, 1990explosiontankerMega Borg60 miles off Galveston, Texas5.1 million gallons 6.Nov. 28, 2000ran agroundtankerWestchesterPort Sulphur, La.567,000 gallons 7.Jan. 23, 2010collisiontankerEagle OtomePort Arthur, Texas462,000 gallons 8.July 25, 2008collisionunnamed bargeNew Orleans, La.419,000 gallons 9.Dec. 7, 2004ran agroundM/VSelendang AyuAleutian Islands, Alaska337,000 gallons 10.Aug. 10, 1993collisionbargeBouchard B155Tampa Bay, Fla.336,000 gallons

Ten Largest Oil Spills in the World The following table lists the largest oil spills in the world. The date of the spill, circumstances surrounding the spill, and amount of oil spilled are also given. RankDateCauseSourceLocationSpill Volume 1.April 20, 2010explosiondrilling rigDeepwater HorizonGulf of Mexico, 50 miles off the coast of Louisianaan estimated 200,000 gallons a day 2.Jan. 23–27, 1991deliberate act by Iraqtankers10 mi off Kuwait240–460 million gallons 3.June 3, 1979well blowoutoil well Ixtoc 1Gulf of Mexico140 million gallons 4.March 2, 1992leakoil wellFergana Valley, Uzbekistan88 million gallons 5.July 19, 1979collisiontankersAtlantic Empressand theAegean CaptainTrinidad & Tobago87 million gallons 6.Sept. 8, 1994dam burstoil reservoirRussia84 million gallons 7.April, 1977well blowoutEkofisk oil fieldNorth Sea81 million gallons 8.Feb. 4, 1983collisionNowruz field platformPersian Gulf, Iran80 million gallons 9.May 28, 1991explosiontanker ABT Summeroff Angola78 million gallons 10.Aug. 6, 1983firetankerCastillo de BellverCape Town, South Africa78 million gallons

2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Timeline (part 2 of 2): Saturday, May 29 40 days into the spill, the "top kill" method is abandoned because the mixture cannot overpower the pressure of the oil spilling from the leak. June Tuesday, June 1 Outrage ensues when Tony Hayward says, "I'd like my life back." BP shares plunge about 17%, losing $23 billion in market value; BP stock lost about $67 billion over the six weeks since the explosion. The U.S. Justice Department launches a criminal investigation into the initial explosion and the ensuing spill. Fishing restrictions increase to 37% of federal waters in the Gulf. Thursday, June 3 Technicians cut a riser pipe nearly one-mile under the surface and plan to then dome the leak and siphon the oil to a tank on the surface. As a result, the rate of flow increased by 20% beause the oil has less distance to travel to leak. Friday, June 4 President Obama cancels his trip to Australia, Indonesia, and Guam to make his third trip to the Gulf Coast. He voices his outrage at BP for spending millions of dollars on television advertisements. Saturday, June 12 President Obama speaks with British Prime Minister David Cameron about BP oil spill. The U.S. Coast Guard orders BP engineers to increase the rate of containment of the spewing oil; the consequences for failing to do so are not outlined, however. Sunday, June 13 BP officials state that the containment cap captured 15,000 barrels of oil on the previous day, bringing the total number of barrels captured by the device to 119,000. Monday, June 14 President Obama visits the Gulf for the fourth time in eight weeks. Congress and the Obama administration demand that BP halt paying dividends to its shareholders in order to ensure that the company will have money to pay for damages. BP says it will be able to siphon 40,000 to 53,000 barrels a day by the end of June. Tuesday, June 15 Oil executives are summoned to Congress to testify about the safety of offshore drilling and share their response plans for another such disaster. Leak estimates are increased to 60,000 barrels per day; this means 2.5 million barrels a day are spilling into the Gulf. At this rate, the amount of the ExxonValdezspill is reproduced every four days. That night, President Obama delivers a speech about the oil spill from the Oval Office. The speech, his first from the Oval Office, is watched by 32 million viewers. Wednesday, June 16 President Obama meets with top executives and lawyers of BP at the White House. He later announces that BP agreed to create a $20 billion fund to pay claims and damages. The fund will be run by Kenneth R. Feinberg, who oversaw the compensation for victims of Sept. 11. Thursday, June 17 Tony Hayward testifies before Congress. The U.S. Coast Guard reports that containment devices should be able to capture 53,000 barrels per day by the end of June. In the future, the collection of 60,000 to 80,000 barrels a day may take place with the successful implementation of a new, multi-hose well cap. BP recovers 25,290 barrels of oil, the most it has recovered in a single day. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) apologizes to BP for being forced by the Obama administration to create a $20 billion fund, calling it a "shakedown." Under pressure, he later apologizes for his apology. Friday, June 18 Tony Hayward steps away from BP's response efforts and passes the responsibilities to Robert Dudley, the managing director of BP. Hayward still remains the CEO of BP. The Center for Biological Diversity files a lawsuit against BP, seeking monetary penalties for the disaster under the Clean Water Act. The Center calculates that BP's liability will be around $19 billion, assuming the spill continues into August. Saturday, June 19 Anadarko Petroleum, which owns a quarter of the well, denies any responsibility for the disaster. CEO Jim Hackett blames BP for "gross negligence." Sunday, June 20 Photos of Hayward with his son as a yacht race make their way into the US media and cause frenzy throughout the country. Tuesday, June 22 American Bob Dudley assumes control of the spill from Hayward at a major oil industry conference; Hayward is not present. Chief of staff Steve Westwell delivers a speech on Hayward's behalf and is disrupted as two Greenpeace protesters assume the stage. Wednesday, June 23 An underwater robot bumps into the wellhead cap which results in oil gushing unhindered for several hours. Friday, June 25 BP announces the cost of containing and cleaning the oil spill reaches $2.35 billion. Monday, June 28 The Guardian, a widely circulated British newspaper, publishes a protest letter signed by 171 critics, writers, and artists about BP's financial ties to the Tate Britain gallery. Later on, activists dump molasses over the gallery's steps during a party intended to celebrate ten years of BP sponsorship. Wednesday, June 30 Tall waves, created as a result of Hurricane Alex, halt clean-up efforts.