Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill - A decade on ..

On 20 April 2010 the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster devastated the Gulf of Mexico and its marine and coastal environments and communities.  11 workers died in the fire and explosion and 17 others were injured.  It is estimated that over 700 million litres of oil spread into the Gulf and oil slicks extended over an area of 140,000 km2 and thousands of kilometres of coastline. The costs of the disaster were estimated to be in the USD$ hundreds of billions. A raft of legal suits and regulatory actions were filed by thousands of claimants and numerous regulators and governments. Complex claims against the parties (including BP Plc (lessee of the rig), Transocean (owner and operator of the rig) and others) included claimed violations of the Clean Water Act and cross-jurisdictional insurances issues. Numerous settlements were reached but many actions remain.