Worst Oil Catastrophes Of All Time

Since the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill more than 3.5 million gallons of oil have leaked from the well.  This qualifies it to be in the top 10 worst oil catastrophes. See what are the top five worst oil catastrophes of all time:

The Gulf War Oil Spill

The Gulf War Oil Spill where hundreds of millions of barrels of crude oil poured in the Persian Gulf during the Kuwait War.

The incident occurred when Iraqi forces were withdrawing from Kuwait, sabotaging hundreds of wells, oil terminals, and tankers, in part to thwart the arrival of US forces. 1,450,000 barrels were released at Sea Island, Kuwait.

Ixtoc 1

The Ixtoc I was an exploratory oil well in the Bay of Campeche off Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico. By the time the well was brought under control in 1980, an estimated 140 million gallons of oil had spilled into the bay. It became the second largest oil spill in history.

Like the Deepwater Horizon spill, the Ixtoc 1 underwater leak proved extremely difficult to plug. It took experts and divers some nine months to contain and cap the well.

Atlantic Empress

In 1979 The Atlantic Empress collided with the Aegean Captain ten miles off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago, spewing 90 million gallons of oil.

The collision between the two fully loaded oil carriers took place during a tropical rainstorm. Both ships immediately caught fire and began leaking their contents in what would become the largest tanker-based spill ever recorded.

Nowruz Platform

The Nowruz oil field in Iran’s Persian Gulf leaked some 80 million gallons of oil when it got hit by a tanker in 1983.

The incident happened at the height of the Iran-Iraq War when an oil tanker hit the Nowruz Field Platform, damaging the well underneath. The resulting leak of 1,500 barrels a day could not be capped for months because the platform was under constant attack by Iraqi planes.

Exxon Valdez

On March 24, 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez grounded on Bligh Reef in the upper part of Prince William Sound. The tanker was carrying approximately 53 million gallons of crude oil. Within a few days, it had spilled almost 11 million gallons of the oil into Prince William Sound.  The long cleanup process and infamous images of animals coated in oil helped to rally environmentalists working to reduce oil consumption in the U.S.

Filed Under: Environment