The 10 Deadliest and Biggest Oil Spills In History
Oil spills happen when people make mistakes or are careless and cause an oil tanker to leak oil into the ocean. There are a few more ways an oil spill can occur; when countries are at war, terrorists may cause an oil spill because they will dump oil into a country’s ocean, Illegal dumpers, or Natural disasters may cause an oil spill, too. Below you will find a list of the top 10 deadliest and biggest oil spills in history that dumped hundreds of thousands or millions of tons of oil into the seas which killed animals and sea life. Read more about Oil Spills and Their Impact on Wildlife: Information, How To Help, and Resources
1. Gulf War oil spill
Location: Persian Gulf
When did it happen: January 21, 1991
How Many Tons Of Oil Were Dumped: 1,360,000–1,500,000
What damage did it cause?
It caused considerable damage to wildlife in the Persian Gulf especially in areas surrounding Kuwait and Iraq. Estimates on the volume spilled range from 42 to 462 million gallons; the slick reached a maximum size of 101 by 42 miles and was 5 inches thick. Despite the uncertainty surrounding the size of the spill, figures place it 5 to 27 times the size of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and more than twice the size of the 1979 Ixtoc I blow-out in the Gulf of Mexico.
According to a study sponsored by UNESCO, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States, the spill did little long-term damage. About half the oil evaporated, a million barrels were recovered and 2 million to 3 million barrels washed ashore, mainly in Saudi Arabia.
What caused it?
The immediate reports from Baghdad said that American air strikes had caused a discharge of oil from two tankers. Coalition forces determined the main source of oil to be the Sea Island terminal in Kuwait. American airstrikes on January 26 destroyed pipelines to prevent further spillage into the Persian Gulf. Several other sources of oil were found to be active: tankers and a damaged Kuwaiti oil refinery near Mina Al Ahmadi, tankers near Bubiyan Island, and Iraq’s Mina Al Bakr terminal.
2. Ixtoc I oil well
Location: Gulf of Mexico
When did it happen: June 3, 1979–March 23, 1980
How Many Tons Of Oil Were Dumped: 454,000–480,000
What damage did it cause?
The oil slick surrounded Rancho Nuevo, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, which is one of the few nesting sites for Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles. Thousands of baby sea turtles were airlifted to a clean portion of the Gulf of Mexico to help save this rare species.
What caused it?
Ixtoc I was an exploratory oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, about 600 miles south of the U.S. state of Texas. On June 3, 1979, the well suffered a blowout and is recognized as the second largest oil spill in history.
Mexico’s government-owned oil company Pemex was drilling a 2-mile deep oil well, when the drilling rig lost drilling mud circulation. In modern rotary drilling, mud is circulated down the drill pipe and back up the casing to the surface. The goal is to equalize the pressure through the shaft and to monitor the returning mud for gas. Without the circulating mud, the drill ran into high pressure gas which blew out the oil. The oil caught fire and the platform collapsed.
In the next few months, experts were brought in to contain and cap the oil well. Approximately ten thousand to thirty thousand barrels per day were discharged into the Gulf until it was finally capped on March 23, 1980. Prevailing currents carried the oil towards the Texas coastline. The US government had two months to prepare booms to protect major inlets. Mexico rejected US requests to be compensated for cleanup costs.
3. Atlantic Empress
Tanker: Aegean Captain
Location: Trinidad and Tobago
When did it happen: July 19, 1971
How Many Tons Of Oil Were Dumped: 287,000
What caused it?
The Atlantic Empress was a Greek oil tanker that was involved in two large oil spills. The spills together are the fourth largest total oil spill on record and the largest ship-based spill.
On July 19, 1979, during a tropical rainstorm, the ship collided with the Aegean Captain, off Trinidad and Tobago, spilling 287,000 metric tonnes of oil consigned to Mobil. The damage incurred from the collision was never completely remedied, and while being towed on August 2, the Atlantic Empress continued to spill an additional 41 million gallons off Barbados. The Aegean Captain also spilled a large quantity of oil from her No. 1 tank. The Atlantic Empress sank on 3 August in deep water and her remaining cargo solidified. The spill from the two ships fortunately never came ashore.
4. Fergana Valley
Location: Uzbekistan
When did it happen: March 2, 1992
How Many Tons Of Oil Were Dumped: 285,000
5. Nowruz oil field
Location: Persian Gulf
When did it happen: February 1983
How Many Tons Of Oil Were Dumped: 260,000
6. ABT Summer
Location: 700 nautical miles (1,300 km) off Angola
When did it happen: 1991
How Many Tons Of Oil Were Dumped: 260,000
7. Castillo de Bellver
Location: Saldanha Bay, South Africa
When did it happen: August 6, 1983
How Many Tons Of Oil Were Dumped: 252,000
8. Amoco Cadiz
Location: Brittany, France
When did it happen: March 16, 1978
How Many Tons Of Oil Were Dumped: 223,000
What damage did it cause?
The nature of the oil and rough seas contributed to the rapid formation of a “chocolate mousse” emulsification of oil and water. This viscous emulsification greatly complicated the cleanup efforts. French authorities decided not to use dispersants in sensitive areas or the coastal fringe where water depth was less than 50 meters. Had dispersant been applied from the air in the vicinity of the spill source, the formation of mousse may have been prevented.
At the time, the Amoco Cadiz incident resulted in the largest loss of marine life ever recorded from an oil spill. Mortalities of most animals occurred over the two month period following the spill. Two weeks following the accident, millions of dead mollusks, sea urchins, and other bottom dwelling organisms washed ashore.
Diving birds constituted the majority of the nearly 20,000 dead birds that were recovered. The oyster mortality from the spill was estimated at 9,000 tons. Fishermen in the area caught fish with skin ulcerations and tumors.
Some of the fish caught in the area reportedly had a strong taste of petroleum. Although echinoderm and small crustacean populations almost completely disappeared, the populations of many species recovered within a year. Cleanup activities on rocky shores, such as pressure-washing, also caused habitat impacts.
The Amoco Cadiz spill was one of the most studied oil spills in history. Many studies remain in progress. This was the largest recorded spill in history and was the first spill in which estuarine tidal rivers were oiled. No follow-up mitigation existed to deal with asphalt formation and problems that resulted after the initial aggressive cleanup.
Additional erosion of beaches occurred in several places where no attempt was made to restore the gravel that was removed to lower the beach face. Many of the affected marshes, mudflats, and sandy beaches, were low-energy areas. Evidence of oiled beach sediments can still be seen in some of these sheltered areas. Layers of sub-surface oil still remain buried in many of the impacted beaches.
What caused it?
The Amoco Cadiz contained 1,604,500 barrels of Arabian Light and Iranian Light crude oil. Both are medium weight oils with an API gravity of 34.8. Bunker C is a heavy product with an API of between 7 and 14. But severe weather resulted in the complete breakup of the ship before any oil could be pumped out of the wreck. Therefore its entire cargo of crude oil spilled into the sea.
9. Amoco Haven tanker disaster
Location: Mediterranean Sea near Genoa, Italy
When did it happen: 1991
How Many Tons Of Oil Were Dumped: 144,000
What damage did it cause?
The Italian authorities acted quickly, with hundreds of men fighting a fire which was difficult to access, and distributing more than six miles of inflatable barriers, submerged a metre below the surface, around the vessel to control the spillage. On day two, the Haven was to be towed close to the coast, in a bid to reduce the coastal area affected and make intervention easier. As the bow slipped beneath the surface, a steel cable was passed around the rudder and tugs applied towing pressure. But it was quickly clear that the ship had broken its keel, and the bow section came to rest in 450m of water. On 14 April, the 250m-long main body sank a mile and a half from the coast, between Arenzano and Varazze.
After the wreck was declared safe, a mini sub diver found that the stern section had grazed a rocky spur, though fortunately not hard enough to open any new holes in the hull, and come to rest at an angle on the flat, sandy seabed. He reported that most of the remaining 80,000 tons of crude had burnt or was at the surface. Most of the oil on the surface was able to be sucked up, and what remained below was in a solid state. For the next 12 years the Mediterranean coast of Italy and France was polluted, especially around Genoa and southern France.
What caused it?
On 11 April 1991, the Haven was unloading a cargo of 230,000 tonnes of crude oil to the Multedo floating platform, seven miles off of the coast of Genoa, Italy. Having transferred 80,000 tonnes, she disconnected from the platform for a routine internal transfer operation, to allow oil to be pumped from two side-holds into a central one.
In later testimony, First Officer Donatos Lilis said: “I heard a very loud noise, like iron bars beating against each other. Perhaps the cover of a pump had broken. Then there was an awful explosion.” Five crewmen died immediately, as fire broke out and oil started leaking from the hull as the plates overheated. As the fire engulfed the ship, flames rose 100m high, and after a series of further explosions occurred between 30-40,000 tons of oil poured into the sea.
10. Odyssey
Location: 700 nautical miles (1,300 km) off Nova Scotia, Canada
When did it happen: 1988
How Many Tons Of Oil Were Dumped: 132,000
Oil Spills and Their Impact on Wildlife: Information, How To Help, and Resources
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