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priscilla 1Biggest Oil Spills of All Time
May 19th 2010 02:21
As reported on Planet Green, the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico may develop into one of the worst environmental disasters of all time. But how does it compare to the most devastating oil spills which have come before it?
Here we take a look at the current top 5 worst oil catastrophes of all time.
In 1989, Exxon's oil tanker Valdez hit a reef in a remote region off the coast of Alaska spill, spilling 10.8 million gallons (or 250,000 barrels). The long cleanup process and infamous images of animals coated in oil helped to rally environmentalists working to reduce oil consumption in the U.S.
The incident in the Persian Gulf in 1983 happened at the height of the Iran-Iraq War when an oil tanker hit the Nowruz Field Platform, damaging the well underneath. The resulting leak of 1,500 barrels a day could not be capped for months because the platform was under constant attack by Iraqi planes.
In 1979 The Atlantic Empress collided with the Aegean Captain ten miles off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago, spewing 90 million gallons of oil.
The collision between the two fully loaded oil carriers took place during a tropical rainstorm. Both ships immediately caught fire and began leaking their contents in what would become the largest tanker-based spill ever recorded.
The Ixtoc I was an exploratory oil well in the Gulf of Mexico which suffered a blowout in 1979 to become the second largest oil spill in history.
Like the Deepwater Horizon spill, the Ixtoc 1 underwater leak proved extremely difficult to plug. It took experts and divers some nine months to contain and cap the well, by which time 138 million gallons of oil had escaped.
Our number one spot goes to The Gulf War Oil Spill where hundreds of millions of barrels of crude oil poured in the Persian Gulf during the Kuwait War.
The incident occurred when Iraqi forces were withdrawing from Kuwait, sabotaging hundreds of wells, oil terminals, and tankers, in part to thwart the arrival of US forces. It stands as the biggest oil spill ever recorded with estimates at more than 350 million gallons!
Here we take a look at the current top 5 worst oil catastrophes of all time.
5. Exxon Valdez
4. Nowruz Platform
3. Atlantic Empress
The collision between the two fully loaded oil carriers took place during a tropical rainstorm. Both ships immediately caught fire and began leaking their contents in what would become the largest tanker-based spill ever recorded.
2. Ixtoc 1
Like the Deepwater Horizon spill, the Ixtoc 1 underwater leak proved extremely difficult to plug. It took experts and divers some nine months to contain and cap the well, by which time 138 million gallons of oil had escaped.
1. The Gulf War Oil Spill
The incident occurred when Iraqi forces were withdrawing from Kuwait, sabotaging hundreds of wells, oil terminals, and tankers, in part to thwart the arrival of US forces. It stands as the biggest oil spill ever recorded with estimates at more than 350 million gallons!
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