Watch BP Top Kill Video: The 2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Operation
Oil giant company BP, the operator and principal developer of the Macondo Prospect oil field has launched its "top kill" operation Wednesday to stop the massive ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The spill stems from a sea floor oil gusher that started with an oil well blowout on April 20, 2010. The blowout caused a catastrophic explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling platform that was situated about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of the Louisiana coast. The explosion killed 11 platform workers and injured 17 others. The gusher originates from a deepwater oil well 5,000 feet (1,500 m) below the ocean surface. Estimates of the amount of oil being discharged range from BP's current estimate of over 5,000 barrels (210,000 US gallons; 790,000 litres) to as much as 100,000 barrels (4,200,000 US gallons; 16,000,000 litres) of crude oil per day.
BP has agreed at the request of the Obama administration to show the top kill live feed with pictures of the oil gushing and the blowout preventer, the five-story device the mud was being pumped into. A weak spot in the device could blow under the pressure, causing a brand new leak.
The whole BP oil spill live feed is set to be broadcast live on US television, with news channels streaming footage of the black oil plume rising from the broken well pipe.
The spill stems from a sea floor oil gusher that started with an oil well blowout on April 20, 2010. The blowout caused a catastrophic explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling platform that was situated about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of the Louisiana coast. The explosion killed 11 platform workers and injured 17 others. The gusher originates from a deepwater oil well 5,000 feet (1,500 m) below the ocean surface. Estimates of the amount of oil being discharged range from BP's current estimate of over 5,000 barrels (210,000 US gallons; 790,000 litres) to as much as 100,000 barrels (4,200,000 US gallons; 16,000,000 litres) of crude oil per day.
BP has agreed at the request of the Obama administration to show the top kill live feed with pictures of the oil gushing and the blowout preventer, the five-story device the mud was being pumped into. A weak spot in the device could blow under the pressure, causing a brand new leak.
The whole BP oil spill live feed is set to be broadcast live on US television, with news channels streaming footage of the black oil plume rising from the broken well pipe.
