Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Essay

On April 20, 2010 the oil rig, Deepwater Horizon, exploded and started the world's worst accidental aquatic oil spill. It all started when the rig owned by Transocean and leased by British Petroleum exploded while drilling in the gulf of mexico. When the rig exploded it started a fire that burned until it sank and caused the pipes to rupture effectively starting the worlds worst accidental oil catastrophe. The Deepwater Horizon was priced at about $600 million dollars and was leased to BP for $500 thousand a day (site #1). The explosion killed eleven rig workers making it a huge financial and emotional loss even without the fact that it caused oil to start spewing into the gulf of mexico. The coast guard searched for 3 days for the missing workers before the were declared dead (site 1). The oil leak was reported on the twenty-fourth, four days after the explosion and it was coming from the ruptured well. The leak lasted eighty seven days and spilled out 4.9

That code is the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Code of Ethics. B.P failed to follow this code. In the Fundamental Canons part one, it states that the safety, health, and welfare of the public is more important than anything else(site 9). B.P did not take every precaution to insure the safety, health, and welfare of the public and its own workers. B.P failed to perform the safety checks necessary to abide by the code. In part three of the Fundamental Canons, it says to only issue public statements in an objective and truthful manner(site 9). B.P was not completely truthful about the amount of oil coming out of the hole. In part four of the Fundamental Canons, it states to avoid deceptive acts(site 9). One of the engineers was charged with hiding evidence. He deleted text messages with the numbers of the actual amount of oil flowing through the hole into the ocean. That was completely against the code of ethics for Professional