Ixtoc I oil spill

Ixtoc I was an on behalf of the Mexican oil company PEMEX down accommodated in the Bay of Campeche in the southern Gulf of Mexico exploration well. The drilling had on 3 June 1979, serious accident, which triggered the largest ever oil spill ever made ​​; greater was the subsequent oil spill in the Persian Gulf from 1990/1991 and the oil spill of 2010 by the explosion of exploration oil rig Deepwater Horizon. Over nine months came uncontrollably from crude oil until the well was closed on 23 March 1980.

The accident

The oil drilling platform used in the bore in 50 meters water depth Sedco 135F was operated by the Schlumberger subsidiary Sedco, which later in Transocean, the operator of the 2010 wrecked drilling platform Deepwater Horizon, came up. At a depth of around 3000 meters failed the drilling fluid. The resultant of the high specific gravity of the flushing fluid increased hydrostatic pressure prevents the intrusion of too high pressure fluids from the rock into the wellbore in normal operation. From the well Ixtoc I now stepped uncontrolled gas and crude oil (so-called blowout ), which ignited and on June 3, 1979 destroyed the oil rig.

In contrast to the oil tanker accidents did not arrive within a short time, but over a period of about ten months away into the open sea. In the beginning were around 30,000 barrels of day, after the first repairs were in July to around 20,000 barrels per day, and after extensive sealing of the borehole at the beginning of August, after all, still about 10,000 barrels a day. The oil spill was finally stopped after 294 days on March 23, 1980 after two relief wells. The estimates for the total amount of crude oil spilled amounted 440000-1400000 tons.

Oil spill

At the accident site, the oil was siphoned off to a small part of Norwegian experts, including locks were used. On weggetriebenes from the accident scene oil was spread on an area of 2800 km ² with the dispersant Corexit 9527 aircraft. According to PEMEX burned off half of the oil spilled, third evaporated and the residue was skimmed or dispersed. However, relatively small amounts of leaked total amount reached the shores of the Mexican states of Campeche, Tabasco, Veracruz and Tamaulipas, and with the predominantly northward flow from August 6, 1979, finally, the U.S. State of Texas. Here we had met in the available two months advance warning extensive preparations against the now highly weathered oil. The mainland coast and the lagoon behind the barrier island chain were protected by booms and aspirator in the passages between the islands of Cedar Bayou was closed by heaping up of sand. On the islands, however, had mainly with shovels and rakes more than 7500 cubic meters of oiled material be removed from the beaches.

Follow

The population of birds and marine animals were decimated in places and could also slow to recover. The tourism on the coast of Texas broke briefly by around 60%. Although the state company PEMEX was responsible for the disaster, the Mexican government rejected any assumption of compensation for costs on the American side.