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The Accident
Problems on Transocean Ltd's drilling rig (named Deepwater Horizon and licensed to British Petroleum or BP). An explosion and fire kills 11 workers. The rig is located 42 miles (68 km) southeast of Venice, Louisiana, and is drilling in about 5,000 feet (1,525 meters) of water and 13,000 feet (4 km) under the seabed. -
The slick appears
A Five mile long (8 km) oil slick is seen after the Deepwater Horizon rig sinks. -
Blowout preventer activation fail
The U.S. Coast Guard approves a plan to use remote underwater vehicles to stop the leak by activating a blowout preventer, but this effort fails. -
Controlled Burn
A controlled burn is held on the giant oil slick, but the flow of leaking oil is about 5,000 barrels per day (210,000 gallons/795,000 liters) -- more than first estimated. -
State of Emergency
Louisiana declares state of emergency because of possible threat to it's natural resources. -
BP takes responsibility
All drilling in the gulf is stopped until the cause of the Deepwater Horizon accident is known. BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward says BP will take full responsibility for cleanup and will pay all legitimate claims. -
Obama visits beach
BP starts relief well drilling alongside the failed well, but this may take at least 10 weeks to complete. Obama visits the Gulf Coast to view cleanup operations. -
Containment dome fails
Early attempts to lower large containment dome over the leak fail due to frozen hydrocarbons slush that clogs it. A fishing ban for federal waters off the Gulf is extended. Oil is seen on the shores of shores of Louisiana's Chandeleur Islands (uninhabited barrier islands) -
Congressional Hearings
At congressional hearings in Washington it is revealed that a "cascade of errors", technical, human and regulatory are to blame for the accident. -
BP captures some oil
BP succeeds in capturing some of the leaking oil and gas. -
Oil finds the shore
The first heavy oil from the spill sloshes ashore in fragile Louisiana marshlands and part of the fragmented oil slick enters a powerful current that could carry it to the Florida Keys and beyond. -
Good maneuver fails
A "top kill" maneuver (that involves pumping heavy fluids and other material into the well shaft is tried - but within 3 days is considered a failure. BP says the disaster has so far cost close to $1 billion. -
BP brings out the sub's
BP works on a to capture escaping oil using robot submarines to cut off oil leaking from a riser pipe, then lowering a containment cap over the wellhead assembly. -
Half the oil is captured
Half of leaking oil is captured, but leak contiues -
hurricane disrupts cleanup
Heavy seas from Hurricane Alex disrupt clean-up efforts. -
Containment system will be installed
BP begin their latest attempt to seal the leak using robots to remove a leaking well so that a replacement containment system can be installed -
Some oil is stopped
The flow of leaking oil is stopped by BP for the first time in 87 days, but leaks start again and additional solutions needed. -
Storm interferes
Tropical storm Bonnie hibders cleanup efforts. -
Leak closed permanantly
'Static kill' successfully stops the oil leak, though more mud may still have to be pumped into the well to close it permanently. -
Most oil has been cleaned up
The US government announces that the majority of oil from the BP spill has been cleaned up -
It is fixed!
US Coast Guard deems the well kill operations complete and successful. -
Technology does the job
Scientists estimate that a total of 4.4m barrels of oil were released into the Gulf of Mexico during the nearly three months the well leaked. Thanks to technology and nature a large majority has already been cleaned up -
Blocked by Obama Administration
White House report finds that government scientists were blocked by Obama administration from reporting the full extent of BP oil spill in the early stages -
Cost of the Spill
It is released that the estimated cost of the oil spill is arround $40 billion.
