On April 20, 2010, ten years ago, a “blowout” occurred on the Deepwater Horizon offshore rig, killing 11 workers and spilling millions of barrels of oil from BP’s Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. Four million barrels of oil flowed from the damaged well over an 87-day period, before it was capped on July 15, 2010. Shortly after the accident, President Obama instituted a six-month moratorium on deep-water offshore drilling. On December 15, 2010, the United States filed a complaint in District Court against BP Exploration & Production and several other defendants alleged to be responsible for the spill. Settlements were made with several of the defendants, including the settlement with BP Exploration & Production for a $5.5 billion Clean Water Act penalty and up to $8.8 billion in natural resource damages. As of 2018, BP had spent $65 billion on the spill. Since the accident, the offshore drilling industry has taken significant preventative actions.
