Oil Spill Disasters

Oil has been a necessary tool for human use. Liquid petrol has always had a significant advantage over energy over time. It has served as the major means of powered vehicles and machines.

As oil boomed, most products became refined into diesel and gasoline. In transporting oils, history as documented essay examples has sometimes been favorable and others unfavorable to this effect. Thus, contributing to oil spills essays and reasons, these sophisticated products can be used as fuel for automobiles and machines. It can also be used for other vehicle and machine equipment.

 

 

Amoco Cadiz Oil Spill

This ship was filled with over a speculated number of crude oil gallons, close to 69 million. The vessel made contact with shallow waters and ran itself to the ground, close to Brittany’s Coast in France on March 16th, 1978.

It was reported that the vessel was roughly navigating herself through the English Sea when its compartment sustained some damages.

With over 200miles, the French coast was polluted by oil effects resulting in the death of many mollusk and crustaceans. With other oil spill animals ranging close to a million. Plus an estimated 20,000 birds. The Amoco Corporation, which owned the Cadiz, agreed to pay for damages. They paid over $120m alongside $35m to Royal Dutch Shell. They were the owners of the spilled oil, and the environmental effect of this event lasted for decades.

The Atlantic Express

Over 90 million gallons of oil were released into the Atlantic on July 19th, 1979, during a tropical storm. This event took place somewhere around 16km around Trinidad and Tobago Island. This tanker spill was triggered by an unhealthy contact between Atlantic Express and another ship called Aegean Captain. Immediately both ships collided, there was a fire outbreak which affected both ships. The Atlantic Express suffered the most, and while it was moved from land, it kept burning for weeks before it finally sank.

Persian Gulf Oil Spill

The Persian Gulf Oil Spill is usually referred to as the worst oil disaster. Also called the Arabian Gulf or Gulf War oil spill. It was a defense tactic during the 1991 Gulf War, which had Iraqi forces attempting to prevent American soldiers from landing on their shores. They opened valves at offshore oil terminals and dumped oil from tankers. The resulting oil was a four-inch-thick oil slick spread across 4,00 square miles of the Persian Gulf.

The fire started after the soldiers opened the first oil well in January 1991. It lasted till the capping of the last well, which took place in April. As a result, around 240 million gallons of oil were discharged into the sea, killing over a hundred fished and marine animals. By the end of July, most of the oil got removed. However, wartime conditions were obstacles to this process. Every year, oil continued to seep into the water from its coastal sediments.

The Incident at The Nowruz Oil Field

The Nowruz Oil Field Spill occurred because of a rig and a tanker collision. This resulted in a collapse upon impact, spewing into the Persian Gulf off the coast of Iran. The damage of the accident was estimated to be about 80 million oil gallons. Around 1500 barrels a day, these numbers were flown into the Persian Gulf seven months after the accident. Over 20 people died in the process of capping the wells.

Castillo de Bellver

It is located in the south Atlantic ocean, some miles away from Cape Town. It capsized when the fire broke out from it. The tanker broke into pieces with many oil tons, which sailed through drifts within 24 miles and sank. While some part of the oil spilled during the fire, some others were caught in some current being dispersed into the sea. While some sources believed that over 53 million gallons were onboarding the tanker, others speculated around figures close to 79 gallons as at the start of the fire.

Conclusion

Sometimes oil spills occur due to old and damaged equipment, Human error, and occasional miscalculation, like the California oil spill and other times like the Persian Oil Spill. Large spills of oils have been released into the environment. These spills have resulted in fouled coastlines and polluted fisheries. It has also resulted in dead and injured wildlife and lost revenues.