Episodes 63 & 64
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The Deepwater Horizon drill rig was one of the most powerful and highly regarded oil drilling rigs in the 2000's and for good reason. It held safety records for the longest running times of no serious accidents, it held the record for the deepest well ever drilled on the bottom of the ocean, and the Transocean crews that manned it were some of the most experienced the oil industry could supply. The Deepwater Horizon was heralded as "Lucky" because of its perpetual successes!
However, on April 20, 2010, everything changed when the drill rig suddenly exploded at around 10pm at night in a fireball that engulfed the entire rig 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana. This explosion eventually caused the rig to buckle and sink to the bottom of the ocean thus severing an oil pipeline that spewed 210,000 gallons of oil per day into the Gulf of Mexico for over 80 days. This led to the largest oil related disaster in American history.
Worse yet, this disaster cost the lives of 11 crewmen working on the rig and on top of all the environmental issues that ensued, many questions remained as to why those 11 men had to die.
Browse through Ed's show notes for the episode below ⬇
The rig was drilling the Macondo Prospect, about 41 miles off the coast of Louisiana.
Oil flowed uncontrollably for 87 days before the well was finally capped on July 15, 2010.
An estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil were released into the Gulf, roughly 210 million gallons.
The spill impacted five U.S. states: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
The wellhead sat nearly 5,000 feet below the ocean’s surface, making it the deepest offshore oil spill in history at the time.