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Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico! - video

Listen to this article A few days ago, in late May 2016, a major oil spill occurred directly into the Gulf of Mexico. Owned by the Shell Oil Company, the Perdido Platform, located in the ocean just 100 miles off Louisiana in the US recorded a spill of an environmentally degrading total smear. On 25

ByTomasz Andrukajtis

Published: May 30, 2016 - 10:26

Updated: July 22, 2023 - 13:27

Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico! – video

Listen to this article

A few days ago, in late May 2016, a major oil spill occurred directly into the Gulf of Mexico. Owned by the Shell Oil Company, the Perdido Platform, located in the ocean just 100 miles off Louisiana in the US recorded a spill of an environmentally degrading total smear. On 25 May, Free Speech Radio News reported that nearly 90,000 gallons of oil had already entered the water.

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Just six years ago, a gigantic disaster occurred in the same area. On 22 April 2010, the BP oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank. It was spewing 150 000 litres of oil every day. It took many days to seal it.

Today, little is being said in the world media about the current May spill. The attached video shows the oil patch from a bird’s eye view. The size of the stain is estimated to be around 13 miles.

Thus, there is a large quantity of mineable mixture of liquid, solid and gaseous hydrocarbons in the water, also containing organic sulphur or nitrogen compounds. These quantities are so great that the dynamic equilibrium of a given environmental ecosystem is broken without the possibility of restoring it through natural mechanisms.

Shell Oil Company’s Perdido platform is the deepest floating oil platform in the world, floating at a depth of 2450m. The leak has been stopped and the pipeline sealed, but the amount of oil that flowed according to Scott Eustis, a specialist with the Gulf Restoration Network, may be an underestimate.

The impact on the environment is unknown. Following the discovery of the spill, three specialist vessels were diverted to extract the oil from the surface.

It seems that the coastguard is downplaying the effects, but the studies that have been carried out in recent years, following the BP disaster, show unequivocally the deadly impact on life in the deep, on corals, dolphins, whale sharks, tuna and all smaller animals and plants. Following the disaster in 2010, 11 people died and thousands of seabirds and marine animals died in agony.

The US has tightened mining regulations and Greenpeace is sounding the alarm.

Let us hope that such disasters do not happen, let us hope that people will be able to prevent them before it is too late.

Source: fsrn.org

About author

Tomasz Andrukajtis

Editor-in-chief of the DIVERS24 portal and magazine. Responsible for obtaining, translating and developing content. He also supervises all publications. Achived his first diving certification – P1 CMAS, in 2000. Has a degree in journalism and social communication. In the diving industry since 2008.