Gulf Coast Oil Spill TimelineHere are a few defining moments since the oil spill began on April 20, 2010.
October 12, 2010 - Obama Administration lifts moratorium on deepwater drlling. Read more.
August 23, 2010 - Independent agency takes over Gulf claims payments. Claims previously filed with the BP Claims Process have been transitioned to the new claims facility for review, evaluation and determination, however claimants will be required to file new forms with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility to receive payments. Read more.
August 9, 2010 - BP has establised a trust and made a $3 billion initial deposit of the previously-announced $20 billion escrow account to pay legitimate claims arising from the Deepwater Horizon incident and the resulting oil and gas spill. Read more.
August 3, 2010 - Static Kill is holding, however the residents along the Gulf Coast remain guarded. Still a long way to go with clean up efforts. Read more
July 27, 2010 -
BP today announced that, by mutual agreement with the BP board, Tony Hayward is to step down as group chief executive with effect from October 1, 2010. He will be succeeded as of that date by fellow executive director Robert Dudley. Read more.
July 26, 2010 - Tropical Storm Bonnie, dissipates. Clean up efforts are once again underway. It is estimated the well could be sealed in as little as one week.
July 20, 2010 - Tropical Storm Concerns. BP oil spill cleanup threatened by tropical storms. If a hurricane strikes the Gulf of Mexico this weekend, clean up efforts would be disrupted.
July 15, 2010 - Oil Spill Capped. BP successfully placed a new cap over the gushing well. BP is now conducting step-by-stop tests of the massive, 150,000 pound cap on the wellhead, a process the company said could take up to 48 hours.
July 12, 2010 - US Suspends Deep Water Drilling, again.
July 9, 2010 - BP could start replacing the containment cap as early as Saturday. Read more
July 2, 2010 - The House on Thursday passed the first major bill related to the Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion, voting to allow families of those killed and injured workers to be compensated far more generously than current law allows. Read more
June 28, 2010 - Tropical Storm Alex hits the Gulf Coast. On its current path, Alex is projected to make landfall in Mexico later this week, with most of its force avoiding the oil spill area in the northeastern Gulf off the Louisiana coast. But experts warned that strong swells and winds could reach the slick area and disrupt cleanup efforts. Read more
June 24, 2010 - Update from Ocean Therapy Solutions and BP on the ongoing efforts to deploy Ocean Therapy's oil separating centrifuge devices in the Gulf of Mexico to clean up the Horizon oil spill.
June 23, 2010 - Adischarge of liquid was observed from a diverter valve on the drillship Discoverer Enterprise. As a precaution, the containment cap system was removed off the Deepwater Horizon failed blowout preventer. Later in the afternoon, the cap containment system was successfully reinstalled on the Deepwater Horizon's failed blow-out preventer. The system resumed collecting oil and gas.
June 22, 2010 - US Court overturns Obama ban on deep water drilling.
June 16, 2010 - Scientists increase the estimate of oil escaping in the gulf to up to 2.5 million gallons a day, from around 800,000 gallons a day.
June 16, 2010 - BP officials met with Obama and agree to set up a $20 Billion escrow fund to pay damages.
June 15, 2010 - President Obama gives speech from the Oval Office in which he vowed to make BP pay for losses due to the disaster.
June 10, 2010 - Experts now predict approximately 800,000 gallons of oil are leaking into the Gulf each day.
June 9, 2010 - Actor Kevin Costner testifies on Capitol Hill about his company's oil-cleaning devices. BP ordered 32 of Costner's Ocean Therapy Solutions.
June 1, 2010 - BP CEO, Tony Hayward was quoted saying "I'd like my life back".
June 1, 2010 - Scientists claim they have found more than one oil plume, one of them "22 miles long, six miles wide and more than a thousand feet deep". BP denies the existence of underway oil plumes.
May 28, 2010 - President makes his second visit to the Gulf and states, "I am the president and the buck stops with me."
May 6, 2010 - Oil from the leaking well made its first confirmed landfall.
May 29, 2010 - BP announces that its "top kill" plan to fill the well had failed.
May 6, 2010 - A specially constructed containment vessel was lowered into the Gulf of Mexico, but ice crystals plugged the top of the structure, preventing it from capping the leak.
May 2, 2010: President visits Gulf coast oil spill for the first time.
April 28, 2010 - Experts now believe that at least 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) of oil are being released from the well each day.
April 26, 2010 -
The oil slick stretches 80 miles across the Gulf and is 36 miles southeast of Louisiana.
April 24, 2010 - Underwater robotic vehicles discover oil leaking from the damaged drill pipe of the rig (two days after the rig sank).
April 20, 2010 - 11 workers die in the Deepwater Horizon oil well explosion. |