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April 25 – Oil sheen seen covering 580 square miles (1,500 km 2) and is 70 miles (110 km) south of Mississippi and Alabama coastlines and was 31 miles (50 km) from the ecologically sensitive Chandeleur Islands. BP begins process to establish two relief wells. [26] April 26 – Oil reported 36 miles (58 km) southeast of Louisiana.
One plume of dispersed oil measured at 22 miles (35 km) long, more than a mile wide and 650 feet (200 m) thick. The plume showed the oil "is persisting for longer periods than we would have expected," said researchers with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. "Many people speculated that subsurface oil droplets were being easily biodegraded.
The government's estimates suggested the cap and other equipment were capturing less than half of the oil leaking from the sea floor as of late June. [24] On July 10, robots removed the containment cap to replace it with a better-fitting cap ("Top Hat Number 10"); this meant all of the leaking oil would escape until the new cap was in place. [25]
Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig [7] owned by Transocean and operated by the BP company. On 20 April 2010, while drilling in the Gulf of Mexico at the Macondo Prospect, a blowout caused an explosion on the rig that killed 11 crewmen and ignited a fireball visible from 40 miles (64 km) away. [8]
Thus, oil that would normally rise to the surface of the water was emulsified into tiny droplets and remained suspended in the water and on the sea floor. [194] The oil and dispersant mixture permeated the food chain through zooplankton. [191] [195] [196] Signs of an oil-and-dispersant mix were found under the shells of tiny blue crab larvae. [197]
This caused the leak and fire at the surface to cease within approximately one minute of the explosion, and proved to be a permanent solution. An attempt on a similar well was not as successful. Other tests were for such experiments as oil extraction enhancement (Stavropol, 1969) and the creation of gas storage reservoirs (Orenburg, 1970). [38]